Love's Overrated
by Kibble93
Summary: Most people wouldn't expect to be able to fall in love so hard in the span of two months, but Nico di Angelo isn't most people. So when he's thrown into the same cabin for the whole summer with the perfect guy, one can only expect Nico to fall hard. Follow the poor boy in his antics and see where this leads him, and what lies in store for his love life. Percy/Nico
1. Chapter 1

**Love's Overrated**

**Author's Note:** Alright, guys. So here's my go at a Percy Jackson story. I love this series with all my heart and then some, so I figured it was high time I got to work on my own little piece of writing surrounding the lives of these characters. But enough of my little drabbling, I'm sure you came for the writing, not my silly notes. And don't worry, the slash will come!

Also, please note that this story does _not _take place at Camp Half-Blood. It's sort of an AU where all the same characters and stuff like that exist, but it's in a regular world, without gods. So this first chapter takes place in a regular ol' summer camp. I just thought I'd address this so it doesn't bring up any confusion!

Reviews are always appreciated. Seriously, they definitely keep me going. I will be continuing this story with or without them, because I'm not going to be one of those annoying people that will only update after a certain amount of reviews. However, they really do help and I'd really appreciate if you let me know what you think of the story so far, because it'd lead me in the right direction and let me know you want to see more. But enough rambling about reviews – I swear, I will never talk about them this much in these notes ever again. I just wanted to get that point across.

I hope you enjoy!

**Warning: **This is rated M for a reason. I don't plan on making this anything less than that, and it will progressively get more mature as the story continues.

_Chapter 1: Every Fiber_

**_Kibble 93_**

To love someone so wholly and completely, with every fiber of your being, was just about the best feeling anyone could possess. To have someone constantly be on your mind and be the only subject of your thoughts. To have your heart throb and dance at every sight of the person, or even just the slight mention of their name. To know that every single part of them is perfect and wonderful in every way, both inside and out, and that there's no way in Hell that anyone could ever match their beauty. To look at them and think _I'm staring at a god right now._ Yes, being in love was the best feeling in the world.

That is, if the feelings are returned.

But to love someone so wholly and completely without any feelings being given back? Well, it was just about the worst feeling that anyone could ever experience in their life. To know that there's no chance between you and the one person you know is meant for you. To know that no matter how much you pray, wish, and hope, that they will never so much as spare a glance at you in that way, if at all.

It wouldn't take a genius to figure out that this what pretty much Nico di Angelo's life. Or, at least, it had been for the past two months. How anyone could fall so madly in love in only two months time was beyond him, especially someone who didn't ever really believe in true love. And yet the boy, or rather young man, sleeping in his own bed just across the room had done it to him, and Nico absolutely hated him for it.

But as much as he wanted to hate Percy Jackson, he couldn't. He couldn't do it no matter how hard he tried. No matter how much he willed himself to see Percy with only blinding fury and burning rage, all he could ever see was absolute perfection. There was so much wrong about this, about this… obsession, almost, that had taken over Nico's life. He was only interested in what the older boy was interested in, only wanted to do things if he knew Percy would be there, too, and more often then not Nico would find himself staying awake at night just to gaze at the snoring teenager. Not only did he hate Percy for what he was doing to him, but he also hated himself for letting him fall into this trap so easily.

Nico cursed to himself in the dark as he hugged his knees closer to his chest. The older boy snored loudly and then turned to his side, and Nico watched with fascination. He giggled slightly, hearing Percy snore like that, and then cursed himself again. This was weird! W-e-i-r-d, _weird._ He couldn't watch people sleep like this, it just wasn't right! And yet he couldn't, just couldn't, pull his eyes away. He'd tried, but always found his gaze wandering back. He wanted to stop himself, but he couldn't. Nico was losing a lot of sleep because of this, not just the "watching Percy sleep" thing, but also the fact that they were in the same room made it almost impossible for the boy to fall out of consciousness easily.

He didn't even want to be here. He didn't even want to be at this stupid camp. Life would have been so much easier if he hadn't come. Why his grandmother had made him, he had no idea, but he really wished, over anything else, that she hadn't. It was something about "needing to make more friends" or something. He snickered at the thought; that had totally worked. All it did was cause him to fall in love way too hard for his own good, and with a boy he knew he'd never see again. "Thanks, Grandma." He whispered sarcastically to himself.

Finally flopping down onto his back and settling into the blankets of the bed he was seated on, he turned to his side and tried to put his mind to other thoughts; like how school was starting in less than two weeks and he still hadn't gotten his summer work done. Or how his only real friend probably had a much better summer than him and most likely went off and made a whole bunch of new friends at her fancy-schmancy art camp. It must be nice to at least go to a camp where you're surrounded by a bunch of people who are interested in the same types of things as you are. Nico suddenly wished that he had actually given his grandmother a definitive answer when she asked "what kind of camp would you like to go to this summer?"

Apparently, "I don't know, I don't really want to go to camp," means that he's going to one of those general summer camps. The ones where there's a lot of sports, stuff like archery and swimming in lakes, bonfires, and things of that nature. He didn't even know that there were summer camps that lasted both months of the summer vacation that he had. But alas, there were, and he had spent the majority of his time off of school here in this hellhole, where all he could think about was Percy fucking Jackson.

It's not like he hadn't made an effort to make friends, either. He did, mainly with the others who didn't seem to want to be here and were instead forced against their will. But none of them really hit it off. They didn't have anything in common really, and Nico soon came to realize that he was kind of the odd one out here. He wore a lot of black, despite the heat, and often look very depressed, which wasn't the case. He wasn't depressed (other than at the fact the he was so addicted to Percy, even though he barely knew him), he just like the color black. He guessed that, to the other campers, he probably looked like some weird goth or emo kid; or some kind of weird combination of the two. Maybe he inherited that from his father, who had always been a bit of a dark man.

He had made a special effort to make friends with Percy, too. He'd tried especially hard, because he figured the next best thing to lovers was friends. Although he'd ultimately be torturing himself, maybe becoming his friend would also help him get over himself. Why he thought he'd get that result, he had no idea. Some might say that he's over exaggerating, but as of right now Nico was afraid that Percy was one of those people that you never really got over. The kind of people who you constantly tell yourself you got over, but never really did.

For the most part, it was an okay friendship. They talked on occasion, seemed to get along fine, and Percy wasn't mean to him, even if he did seem like the jock type that always bullied him at school. He was athletic, definitely, probably played a few sports back wherever he lived. He'd seen Percy shirtless at the lake, and he had muscle; not overly muscular, but he was toned. It wouldn't have come as a surprise to him if Percy was just as much of a bully as the other jocks at his school.

He flipped face down and groaned loudly into his pillow before sitting back up and looking over at Percy, who was now stirring in his sleep. Nico's heart started to pump quickly, and after a moment Percy sat up drearily.

"Nico? What're you doing, man?"

"H'm? Oh, I just woke up, just need a drink of water or something." He lied.

"Oh, okay. Thought I heard grunting or something, everything okay?"

"Yeah, maybe you were just hearing things. Or it could've been a dream." Damn, usually he was a much heavier sleeper, or so Nico thought. He'd have to be careful the remaining couple of days in the cabin.

"Yeah, guess so." He got up out of his bed and waltzed off to the bathroom, Nico watching him from behind. His hair, although in a state of defied gravity at the moment, was a beautiful, soft brown, and his skin was a light bronze color, naturally dark compared to Nico's pale, creamy colored skin. He admired the tall boy, watching him disappear into the restroom. Not shortly after, the sound of urinating filled the cabin and Percy quickly emerged back out with the sound of a flush.

"S'free now, if you want water." Nico stayed silent.

"Nico? You alright dude? Seriously, you're starting to freak me out a little bit."

"What? Oh, yeah, thanks. Sorry, I just spaced out, no big deal."

"Alright. Well, I'm heading back to bed. But if something's on your mind or anything you can come talk to me, 'kay? We're all we've got right now with these cabins only holding two people, and I can't have some depressed kid walking around. You'd kill my mood." Percy laughed and lied back down. "See you in the morning." And with that, he was out once more, snoring louder than he was before the bathroom trip.

Nico had just nodded and stayed in his bed for another moment before finally getting up and making his way to the bathroom himself. He shut the door quietly and turned the sink on, cupping his hands and filling them with cold water. Splashing his face with the refreshing cold water, he leaned against the counter with his forearms and cursed to himself, again. After spending another minute or two in the bathroom, he shut the light and opened the door again, slipping out quietly and sliding under his covers.

If only Percy knew that he absolutely couldn't tell him what was wrong. Oh, how he wished he could, but he couldn't. Never in a million years could he tell Percy what was wrong. So instead he just sighed, turning onto his side for one final time and curling into the sheets that surrounded him. Hopefully this wasn't as bad as he though, because the best feeling in the world is being absolutely and utterly in love with someone. But the worst feeling? Being absolutely and utterly in love with someone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Love's Overrated**

**Author's Note:** Okee dokee, let's get this out of the way. So I hadn't actually planned on updating this quickly, and was most likely going to write and post this weekend. However, you guys have been super supportive and I've gotten some really nice feedback and reviews and it seems like so far people like the story, which is awesome!

Therefore, I'm going to push my semi-laziness aside and get to work! This is a little treat for you guys. I can't promise updates will be this fast all the time, but with such positive feedback, you never know. I hate to disappoint. So let's just say, so far, you guys have kept me motivated, and I want to thank you all for it! Also, holy crap, his one's a lot longer than chapter one. I hope that's okay! If you like the longer chapters, let me know. Or, if you'd rather, I can always find some kind of middle ground, or write the length I did for chapter one! Really, just let me know what you'd rather have!

**Warning: **This is rated M for a reason. I don't plan on making this anything less than that, and it will progressively get more mature as the story continues.

_Chapter 2: Butterflies_

**_Kibble 93_**

It had been two days since the night Percy told Nico he could come to him for anything. It had also been two days since Nico had gotten anything reminiscent of sleep, and to say that the small, black haired boy was tired would have been a bit of an understatement. The boy was beyond exhausted, and despite his many efforts of trying to fall into sleep, strained or not, had failed. He'd even tried bringing his pillow and blanket into the bathroom at one point, thinking that if he wasn't in the same room as Percy that he'd be able to fall out of consciousness comfortably. If anything, it had only been harder, which seemed a little silly. But the cold linoleum floor didn't really do anything to help, and he could still hear Percy's snores through the door, which was a (loud) reminder that he was still very much in close proximity with the boy that he loved oh so much.

If Nico had told any adult that he had fallen in love with someone, they'd tell him that he didn't know what love really was. How could a sixteen-year-old boy possibly fall in love with someone? He knew that if he told anyone, they would try and tell him everything that was wrong with what he said. _"You don't really know what love is until you're an adult and have experienced it." "You've only known him for two months, how could you fall in love?"_ Some may even go as far as telling him that sixteen is an experimental age in terms of sexuality and that he might not even know he was gay. He'd laugh in their face if they told him that, provided he was being confident that day.

Nico had known he was gay from a pretty early age, or at least different. He didn't quite know what "gay" was until he was eleven or twelve years old, which is when he figured he was gay, but he had known that he wasn't like most boys since he was around six or seven, as cliché as it was. And if you know Nico, you know that he _hates _clichés, which made it all the more frustrating for him. He was never the flamboyant type of gay, the kind where he'd get a ton of piercings and dye his hair pink and wear women's clothing. No, he wasn't gay in that sense, he just simply liked the sight of naked boys and thought that a female's breast wasn't in the least bit appealing. Nico sighed as he slipped into his clothes, preparing himself for the days activities.

"You ready, dude? Last 'real' day here, I bet they've got some pretty awesome stuff planned for us!" Percy said to him from behind. Nico had taken to the habit of facing his back towards Percy when they changed, sparing himself of some torture. He didn't want to see the boy naked for his own sake. He knew he'd be perfect.

"Ah, yeah, I suppose so. Aren't you sad to go back home, though?" Nico asked him, trying to initiate some kind of small talk.

"Well of course I am! It's been super fun these past couple months, and I'm going to miss all the friends I've made here," Nico silently questioned if that large list of friends has his name on it. "Plus it was nice to get away from home, I'm sure you know how it is. But I mean tomorrow is pack up day, we might as well make the best of today, right?"

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Slipping his shirt on over his slim torso, turning around to face Percy, feeling confident that the taller boy was done changing. He flashed him a small smile.

"Right! What's the point of sitting around and moping, anyway? It's not going to get you anywhere!" He laughed, a good strong laugh that sounded so natural it pained Nico. He wasn't sure he remembered laughing that hard in the past year, and he couldn't imagine this was even close to Percy's hardest laugh. "Plus, I heard that one of the guys down in the older cabins is going to try and get us all some beer for tonight. I heard it's some kind of tradition here or something."

"You've never been here before?" Nico had always just assumed that Percy had been coming here for years; it seemed like the perfect place for him.

"No, what made you think otherwise?"

"I don't know, you just seemed… really at home here." Nico said halfheartedly.

"Well it's not hard to feel so at home when I made such awesome friends like you!" Percy walked over to him and patted him on the back, smiling at him. His smile was brilliant. His teeth were perfectly aligned, obviously a result of years of braces, and beautifully white. They contrasted nice with his bronze skin – although Nico couldn't tell if it was naturally this bronze or if he had just tanned really well in the summer – and his lips were a incredible shade of pink, not too different from his skin but different enough to show them off.

Nico's heart fluttered at the sound of him. _"Awesome friends like you." _He repeated the words in his head. _"Awesome friends like you." "Awesome friends like you." _His brain was like a broken record. Could this mean that Percy had noticed him more than he thought he had? Could it mean that maybe, just maybe, Percy liked him? Not even necessarily in a romantic way, but this had to mean that Percy took some kind of liking to Nico at some point during these two months, despite barely talking to him. Although admittedly that might be Nico's fault; he was far to shy to approach Percy himself or even make himself known, and for the first month he often would hide outside until Percy was asleep before slinking into the cabin and drifting off himself. But that didn't take away from the fact that they were cabin-mates, which means that Percy probably noticed Nico much more than Nico had thought.

The idea of this made Nico nervous, but not totally in a bad way. It gave him that butterflies feeling in his stomach. The fact that Percy had been noticing him even when Nico failed to make any sort of spectacle of himself amazed him, because Percy didn't seem like the kind of guy who was particularly shy or reserved or quiet, all of which Nico was. So why had Percy taken any sort of liking to him? He wanted to ask, and yet he couldn't. He couldn't like he couldn't tell him why'd he'd been particularly upset the past couple months or why he tried so desperately to be away from Percy but around him at the same time. It was not a question you asked someone, so he bit his tongue and asked a filler question instead.

"Wait, don't the counselors stop us from getting the beers?" Percy laughed and patted Nico on the back again.

"What, someone scared of a little drinking?" Nico stayed quiet. "Well, from what I hear they're pretty chill about it all. Some of 'em aren't too far off from our age anyway, so they understand. Some of the other guys told me they just tell you to keep it on the down low and hide it from the head counselor and the younger kids." He let out another small chuckle. Even when barely a laugh was escaping his throat, it still sounded beautiful, if not angelic. It was such a perfect sound; Nico wished he could listen to it endlessly. "So you can keep a secret, right?"

"Course I can. You can trust me!" He replied excitedly, though he didn't actually plan on drinking. For one, alcohol tasted gross. And two, he knew that if he ended up getting drunk, he'd probably end up throwing himself on top of Percy, quite literally. He'd only drunk once before, and that was purely because his drink had been spiked without his knowledge. He never understood that, though. What was so fun about getting other people drunk?

Percy nodded and then walked into the bathroom, and Nico watched as he scrubbed his teeth and brushed his hair. Percy had beautiful hair when he hadn't just woken up. The color was even all throughout, an incredible shade of brown, which Nico didn't think was possible. It was thick and shiny, sort of like a dog's coat who ate a lot of those biscuits that enhance their fur, and it was just long enough for the back of it to reach the midpoint of his neck. His bangs swept across his forehead today, much like Nico's did on a regular basis; only Nico's were longer and darker. When he was done, he headed out the door and the turned as he was walking down the front steps of the cabin.

"You coming, man?" Nico realized he had just been staring at him.

"What?" He shook his head, bringing himself back to reality. "Oh, yeah, definitely. Sorry." He chuckled and followed Percy outside, where they along with most of the other campers who were also piling out of their cabins were headed towards the main gathering area where the day's activities would be explained to them.

Not long after the majority of the camp had gathered around the activities grounds, the place where they also held their bonfires, meaning there were seats for everyone, did the activities director of the camp arrived. Chiron Brunner was in a wheelchair, but he looked like he would have been a tall man before he'd been injured. All the campers, new and old, had long since heard the story of his accident – he wanted to refute and rumors of what might have happened before they started, and so the first day he explained what happened to him.

It turns out that around five or so years ago, the camp had horse riding as one of the activities. While Chiron was demonstrating one of the techniques of controlling a horse, there had been an accident that had left his legs broken and his spine damaged. Apparently they wanted to fire him after that, but he wouldn't let the heads of the camp fire him just because of a disability, and so here he was today, still working for the camp (although horse riding had been cancelled since that day and they no longer had horses on the premises). He had a piercing gaze, but not necessarily in a negative way. It was the type of gaze expressing that he didn't take bullshit, or he didn't play around, but that he wasn't a bad guy. From what Nico had experienced, he was actually pretty cool and enjoyable to be around, as long as you weren't being an ass.

His heavily bearded face looked around the group, taking note of the few tardy campers who were sneaking in through the back of the group before he started to speak.

"As I hope many of you know, today is our last day of camp activities. Unfortunately, tomorrow is a day for clean up and packing and getting ready to go home. However, that also means that today is the day where we give you access to all parts of the camp." Excited murmurs started to rise form the crowd. Chiron quieted them almost immediately. "You must remember that all the same rules that have applied for the summer apply today as well. We understand that it's your last day and you want to have fun, but we can't have your safety put in jeopardy. You're all to be back here at twelve thirty for lunch. But I'm not going to keep you any longer, so please, go have a good time!" As all the campers started to gather with their friends and head off to various parts of the large camp, Chiron added a "and don't forget, no swimming in the lake unless there are lifeguards!" before heading off back to the camp headquarters.

"Aw, sweet, this is going to be awesome!" Percy exclaimed, more to himself than to anyone else. Nico looked at him and smiled before standing up. "Where are you heading off to? I'm going to run and grab my bathing suit and then head off to the lake!" Percy's voice had risen to pure enthusiasm at this point, and he started off towards their cabin. Nico followed close behind.

"I think I might just grab a book and go read." He said with a half-assed smile. "You know that huge tree a little ways down from the headquarters, with the flagpole next to it? That seemed like a nice spot. Plus I really was supposed to get this summer work done-"

"Oh, are you _kidding_ me?" Percy asked, turning around dramatically and looking at the shorter, younger boy. "The one day where every facility is open and we're free to do whatever we want, and you want to read?"

"Well, I mean it's for school, I'm going to get in trouble if I don't-"

"Screw school!" Percy shouted, the two of them entering the cabin and heading for their respective bags. Nico started fishing through his for the book he had brought when Percy was suddenly behind him, digging his hands through the boy's clothes.

"Hey! Get out of here!" He yelled with a chuckle while Percy withdrew a pair of Nico's swimming shorts and threw them at him.

"I'm not letting you read, I'm going to drag you into that lake if I have to. And I'm almost positive that you're not going to overpower me, so you really don't have an option other than whether or not you're going willingly." The younger boy glared at him.

"Well that's not very nice. I could report you to Chiron, y'know." He spoke in a very sarcastic manner, making sure he was being obvious as to not offend the brunette boy. It amazed Nico that he was able to even talk to him so casually like this without wanting to pass out. Maybe he was just having a good day. He shrugged the thought away, knowing if he dwelled on it that it would start affecting his mood and behavior. "We aren't even supposed to swim if there aren't lifeguards!"

"Oh, come _on _Nico! Stop trying to give me excuses; you're coming swimming with me, alright? Now c'mon, get your suit on because I don't want to wait." He let out another laugh and Nico submitted. He found it nearly impossible to say no to Percy, especially when he laughed like that. It wasn't even a conscious thing. It was just the whole concept of it. Percy asked him to do something, and he did it. He let out a long, deep, exaggerated sigh and nodded. With an "okay," and quick trip to the restroom, he was changed into his bathing suit in the matter of a minute. Percy had changed, too, while Nico was in the bathroom, and he soon found himself being dragged across the camp to the large, blue-green lake that awaited them.

Sure enough, there were plenty of lifeguards present, prepared for the hectic day they knew they had in front of them. It didn't take Percy long to strip himself of his shirt and hop into the water, swimming out about halfway across the shallow end, and then turning to see Nico still clothed and on the beach.

"What're you doing? Come in! The water's amazing!" Nico had no idea where this sudden friendship had come from. He knew Percy was a really friendly and sociable guy, and maybe he was like this with all people, but for some reason Nico didn't expect the same attitude towards him. He had no idea why, but he'd expected a more strained friendship between the two, if anything at all. So to see and hear Percy treating him like this felt like a godsend.

It wasn't until Percy removed his shirt that Nico's heart started fluttering again today. The boy was toned, in the perfect sort of way where he didn't have disgustingly huge muscles, but they were visible enough to be admired. The muscles themselves were perfectly shaped, and even from this far away Nico couldn't for the life of him pull his eyes away. He wanted to get out there just so he could touch them, feel the curve formed by the strengthened tissue in his abdomen and chest. Absentmindedly, he wondered if Percy was a swimmer, because he seemed to be naturally very good in the water.

Slowly and reluctantly Nico peeled his own shirt off and stepped into the water. As he probably should have expected, it was freezing, and a look of shock crossed Nico's face at the sudden cold.

"You liar, it's ice cold!" He shouted out at the older teen, who was making an effort to ignore him. He could tell Percy was snickering at him, but Nico honestly couldn't care less. Knowing there was no way out of this, especially now, he inhaled deeply and submerged under the water.

He came up a moment later after deciding that he was used to the temperature, which was a lie he was making to himself and to Percy. But he didn't want to embarrass himself around Percy or make Percy disappointed in him, and so he swallowed his pride and swam out to the boy.

He was even more beautiful up close. Nico didn't think he'd ever been this close to the brunette before, and suddenly he realized just how attractive Percy really was. Even now, in the freezing cold water, skin covered in goose bumps, he was one of the most beautiful people he'd ever seen in his life.

"Is someone embarrassed of having their shirt off?" Percy asked him, bringing Nico back to reality. It took him a minute to realize what he was talking about, but it occurred to him that he was blushing like there was no tomorrow. He smacked a hand to his cheek quickly, trying to cover up his burning face.

"What? No, of course not! I just… don't really go swimming a lot, is all. Not that I can't swim! I just don't, really…"

"Why's that? Swimming is so much fun! I go all the time! " He said, flashing a smile at the poor boy. Nico wanted to tell him it was because he was too skinny, his body was too pale, his hair was thin and didn't react well with chlorine or look good wet. He wanted to explain that he wasn't the biggest fan of his body and he knew he wasn't in ideal shape. He had no muscle and wasn't always the best athletically, swimming included. But instead of all that letting escape his lips, he settled with a simple "Don't know, guess I just don't get the opportunity much."

Percy laughed at the statement, arguing that there was "always a time to go swimming" and that Nico needed to actually "go out in order to swim rather than sit and read silly books." Nico just splashed him with water and ignored him.

"Shut up. Not all of us can schedule a million hours in the gym every day." He elbowed his newfound friend in the side, who responded with another splash to Nico's face.

"Not a million, more like a thousand." He laughed, flexing his biceps dramatically, which were just as nice and defined as his chest and abdominals. It suddenly occurred to Nico how casual the two were being, and it almost scared him. The butterflies suddenly came back to his stomach harder than they had at all this entire trip, and he became very aware of how prone he was to falling into traps like this. He knew that if he allowed himself to continue on like this that it would only cause him more pain, and then his mind wandered to why Percy would be acting like this towards him. Yes, it's true that since that night two nights ago they had been speaking more (although why, Nico wouldn't be able to tell you), but why he was acting so close to him was just completely confusing.

He'd told himself time and time again that he wouldn't let himself do this, and now that there was only two days left, including today, and he knew he'd most likely never see Percy again, he felt absolutely horrible. His mood, in all but two minutes, went to hell and he suddenly didn't feel like swimming anymore. He didn't want to leave Percy, not in the slightest, knowing that they were getting along so well. But he was also scared. Scared that he was going to let himself fall harder for Percy, and that he was going to ultimately end up torturing himself even more.

But no, Nico couldn't just leave. He couldn't just wander off and leave Percy hanging. Although he knew Percy would go find other friends, it would be rude. It would make Nico look bad and honestly he didn't have the heart to leave Percy like that. It wouldn't be fair and he liked Percy too much to just get up and leave. So he bit his lip and swallowed back the butterflies, living through the nervousness and the fear that he was only going to hurt himself more and continued to swim.

The two ended up travelling to the deep end of the lake and swam around for an hour and a half or so, exchanging a lot of splashing, poking, dunking, and the things two boys normal do when they're swimming. There were times where he did forget about what he was feeling and did end up enjoying himself. For the most part, actually, he did have a good time with Percy, and when they did finally make it back to the shore Nico enjoyed the time they spent just lying on the beach in the sun. Finally he sat up and looked at Percy, who looked like he could pass out.

"Tired?" He laughed.

"H'm?" Percy sat up, too, looking over at Nico. "Oh, yeah, a little. Thinking about heading back and taking a nap." He chuckled. "You can read then, if you want. But afterwards I'm taking you to the archery range. Have you ever done archery?" Nico shook his head no. "S'fun, you're coming with in like an hour."

"Why aren't you hanging out with some of your other friends?" Nico asked without thinking.

"What? Why, do you not want me around?"

"No! That's not it at all!" Nico exclaimed. "No, I was just curious… I mean there are some people you've been talking to all summer, and I figured you'd want to hang out with them too."

"Well, that's the thing; they've been seeing me all summer. Plus they've got other friends to hang out with. As far as I could see, you've barely made any friends at all here and you always looked kind of lonely." He smiled a very sincere smile at Nico, one that no matter how hard you tried, couldn't see it as a fake. "Plus, you were going to _read._" He laughed out loud, that strong laugh filling the air around them. Nico nodded, enjoying the sound of his laughter.

"That is true, I guess. I'm _sooooo _lame, aren't I?" Laughing at himself, he finally stood up and then offered a hand to the older brunette sitting at his feet. "Need a hand?" Percy took it and Nico helped him up.

"Thanks man. I'm heading back to the cabin; I need sleep. You can read now if you want." Chuckling one last time, he started his walk back to the cabin, Nico following close behind.

Nico stepped in the little building and searched his bag for his phone. Clicking the lock button and entering the code, he noticed he had a new voicemail. He knew that Juniper had gotten out of art camp the day prior, but he wasn't expecting a call until he got out as well. He entered his voicemail code and put the phone to his ear.

"Nico, hi!" The jubilant voice rung in his ear from the speaker. "How're you? I'm just calling to make sure you're okay. I know that you get out tomorrow and everything, but I couldn't wait. I haven't talked to you in _forever_." She exaggerated the word immensely. "We need to hang out as soon as you get back, okay? We can tell each other all about our summers and - oh, shoot, I gotta go, but I'm sure you're busy as well. Call me back as soon as you can, alright? I mean it, as soon as possible! Okay, bye Nico, love you!"

The phone clicked. He chuckled, Juniper could be so excitable sometimes. He made a mental note to call his best friend back later tonight, but decided that right now Percy had the right idea. It was time for sleep. He hadn't slept in two days, after all, and even though he didn't think the day he'd had so far would help all that much, he figured he'd might as well try. So he stripped himself of his sopping bathing suit, changing into a clean pair of shorts, and collapsed on top of the bed he'd grown so accustomed to over the summer. Letting out another sigh, one of many that had ghosted out of his mouth these past couple months, he turned to his side and turned all thoughts away from Percy, the camp, and everything regarding the subject that had caused him to lose so much sleep the past couple nights. He loved Percy, yes, but there was no way he was going to let it take him over again. Not anymore. No, he would forget about Percy and live his life and be happy. He didn't need Percy. He didn't love him, he didn't know what love was. He was only sixteen, right? He didn't love Percy, he couldn't love Percy.

And just as he was drifting off to sleep, four words entered his mind. Not particularly important words, but words that jolted him awake nonetheless.

_"Awesome friends like you."_

Yeah, he loved him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Love's Overrated**

**Author's Note:** Okay, so I feel really awful about making you guys wait. I would have loved to update earlier than this but I've been a little swamped with homework and SAT prep and all that stuff. So I'm really sorry that you guys had to wait, and I'm sorry you had to wait longer than you did for the previous update. Honestly, I can't guarantee any specific pattern for updates, they'll happen when I find the time to write and post. I will try and start writing chapters in advance, but again, no promises because I've been pretty busy with schoolwork lately.

The one promise I can make you, however, is that I will not give up on this story until it's done and you guys are satisfied. You have all been absolutely wonderful to me so far, and for only two chapters in I'd like to think that I've gotten some pretty good feedback and popularity. I can only hope for more, though, right? Anyway, thank you all, and I promise that these updates will keep coming, so don't lose hope.

Oh, one more thing! It came to my attention through XTheSonofHadesX, but to any of you who have pointed this story out to your friends, thank you so much! So to any of you who are spreading the word, I really, really appreciate. And thank you for trying to help this story grow! Anyway, I feel like I'm going on for too long with this. Do you guys want me to cut down on these notes? If you do, just let me know, I definitely will. Enjoy!

**Warning: **This is rated M for a reason. I don't plan on making this anything less than that, and it will progressively get more M as the story continues.

_Chapter 3: Cupid's Got Me_

**_Kibble 93_**

Nico slept through lunch.

When he awoke, he checked his phone to see that he had slept for nearly four hours, and that it was almost three 'o' clock now. A quick glance at Percy's bed proved that he hadn't done the same, and Nico figured he'd probably gotten up for lunch. Maybe he set an alarm or something on his phone. Nico had always been incredibly guilty at sleeping through alarms, so there was always the possibility that he hadn't heard it. But then again, Percy probably wasn't nearly as tired as Nico had been; Percy was actually getting sleep on a regular basis. Even now Nico still felt groggy, but four hours of sleep isn't really enough to take the place of three missed nights of it.

He could also guess that Percy was most likely a guy with an appetite. He was a tall, strong looking guy who probably played a couple sports, if not more. He wasn't bulky, as Nico had noticed before, but definitely active enough to have muscle and be on the bigger side and therefore have quite a big stomach. He looked as if he could put away quite a lot of food without any repercussions, which he guessed was a good thing. In fact, how could it be a bad thing?

Nico didn't eat particularly unhealthy, no, but he was definitely aware of what he ate. He wasn't sure what adverse effects a ton of unhealthy food would have on his body personally because he never wanted to take that risk. That, and that his grandmother being strong believer that you literally did not need anything other than salad to survive, but that's just because she's a little bit crazy. Not in a bad way necessarily, but in that way that you cold kind of laugh at because she wasn't really crazy, she was just a little over the top.

The large, loud rumbling that came from his stomach brought him back to the painful reality that he was starving. Sometimes he wished that people could just live without food. Although it tasted great, it was really just a nuisance and he knew that he could absolutely live without indulging himself in pounds and pounds of food. He supposed people didn't eat pounds of it, but same concept, right? He knew what he was talking about. He chuckled to himself, sitting up in his little bed and looking around the room, he realized that in a day and a half's time, he'd be leaving this place. Leaving the place that he'd called home for the past two months. Leaving a place who, despite hating it so much, had grown so accustomed to and so comfortable in.

Leaving the place where he truly fell in love for the first time.

Nico "fell in love" easily. He'd never had a boyfriend, no, but he'd come close. He'd had his crushes, and there were people who had crushes on him. But that's all they were, crushes. They never really meant anything and whoever the few people that did like him like that were he wasn't even interested in, not in the slightest. But every time he'd realized he was falling for someone, he'd realized he fell for them quickly. In a matter of days he could be head over heels for someone and not get over them for as long as a couple months.

Looking back, though, he understood now that he was never really "head over heels" for anyone. He had never really known what love was until two months ago. In fact, what he had felt before this summer didn't even come close in comparison to what he felt now. His heart felt a thousand times bigger, like it was about to burst. His chest felt tight and his stomach felt queasy. He always felt off balance and he could never get that one damn person out of his head. Honestly, he felt like he was going to explode from the amount of emotion and love that was building up in his body. And he didn't have any idea what he was supposed to do about it.

Letting out a long, deep sigh, Nico threw the covers off of his lower half which he had somehow slithered into and swung his feet over the edge of the bed. The bottoms of his feet hit the cold floor and he shivered. They weren't carpeted and even in the hot summer air in this stuffy little cabin, the change of temperature from under the sheets on to a wooden floor seemed drastic. More drastic than it actually was, of course, but still, the sudden change did enough to send a slight shiver up his spine.

He padded down over towards the bathroom and turned the faucet on, holding his hand under the running water until it was as cold as it could get. Cupping his hands, he let them fill with the refreshing liquid and after taking a sip out of them, he splashed the rest on his face. He was suddenly hit with a feeling of déjà vu, realizing that albeit it was much lighter out than two nights ago, this was almost exactly the same as what happened that night Percy had really started talking to him. It seemed a little silly, now, so he dried his hands and went back to his bed to slip his socks on. Once they he fit them snugly onto his feet, which he slipped his old, ratty sneakers on that he had brought specifically for this trip because he knew it'd be muddy and disgusting. They were really just torn up, trashed, black Converse, so they didn't provide much protection from outside elements, but they were sufficient for the trip. Although he knew he'd be throwing them out as soon as he got home.

Chuckling as he stood up, he took note of the actual condition of his shoes. His shoes were always something he wanted to make sure looked nice because at school and pretty much anywhere in public he had his head down and just looked at the ground and, more specifically, his shoes. Because of this, he always wanted to be looking at something nice, so he was constantly replacing his shoes. He knew that it was incredibly silly and something really trivial and stupid, but he really could care less. If he was going to stare at the ground, he might as well stare at something appealing, right? He'd also noticed through this that he had kind of small feet for the average guy, only wearing an size eight shoe, sometimes nine depending on the manufacturer. He always laughed at those rumors that your foot size was related to the size of your dick. Who ever thought of that? It didn't make any sense. He laughed at his inner thoughts. He needed to stop drifting off thinking so much, even if it was just dumb things like that.

Making his way outside, he stood at the door and hung on to the doorframe for a moment, inspecting the area around him and examining the grounds of the camp. Finally making his way off the two front steps of the cabin, his feet sunk into a large puddle of mud pooled just at the base of the stoop. He silently cursed to himself and wondered how and when that had got there, then stepped out of it and shook the goopy dirt off of the soles of his shoes before making his way across the field that was the grounds of the camp.

Where had Percy said he was going again? Nico felt like he couldn't remember for the life of him, but after a moment of silent thought it came to him. He was going to the archery range! Although he could be somewhere completely different at this point, he had no idea how long Percy had slept. Probably no more than an hour, because as Nico had assumed before he most likely got up for lunch. Nico debated going to the mess hall and seeing if there was any food left over, but seeing as it was three 'o' clock now chances were everything had been cleaned up form three hours ago. Though his stomach argued in protest, Nico decided to skip the quick trip down and go straight to looking for Percy. That wasn't obsessive, right? He was just looking for his friend. The only friend he had made at this shitty camp, in fact, so what else was he supposed to do?

Then another thing hit him. Percy may have been Nico's only friend here at camp, but Nico was certainly not Percy's only friend. When your friend falls asleep on you and you get up to go eat, you're going to go find your other friends and you're going to go do other things with them and you're going to forget about your friend who's passed out back in your cabin. It only make sense, right? Percy wouldn't just wait around for him, he was the kind of guy that obviously had trouble sitting still for long periods of time and he would have gotten impatient waiting for Nico. He would have gotten bored. He didn't want to interrupt Percy and his friends. Actually, he didn't want to accidentally embarrass himself in front of Percy's friends and risk being made fun of, even if there was only a day of the camp left. Nico hated being teased more than anything else, and to ever run the risk willingly of putting himself in that position would be like suicide for him… sort of. He just didn't want to do it.

But he also didn't want to disrupt anything that Percy was doing with anyone else. He always felt horrible whenever he interrupted people during something else, and there was no doubt Percy had rounded up a bunch of his more athletic friends and went to go shoot arrows, or play volleyball, or swim, or play football or do _something_. And even if his friends weren't mean to him and invited him to join, he'd be horrible at everything, never being much of an athlete. That would only leave him open for more torment, so that option was out. He soon came to the realization that he was standing right in the middle of all the cabins like an idiot, and that Chiron had approached him and was trying to talk to him.

"Nico? Are you okay? You're just standing here-"

"What?" He nearly shouted, snapping back into reality suddenly. "Oh! Yeah, Mr. Brunner, I'm fine." Chiron chuckled.

"You know you're the only kid at this camp who calls me Mr. Brunner? I don't know why, I've told you countless times to call me Chiron. This isn't school, _Mr. di Angelo._" He smirked as he spoke to him in the same manner. It did sound weird coming from the other end, and it wasn't even because Nico wasn't used to being called "Mister." He went to private school, all the teachers addressed the students as "Mister" or "Miss", but it still sounded weird coming from Mr. Br- Chiron's mouth.

"Sorry…" He put his head down and looked at the ground, as he always did. "It just didn't feel right calling you Chiron."

"Everyone does it." He laughed. "Then again, maybe I shouldn't be teaching you to do what everyone else always does. Though just because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't mean I needed added respect-"

"Oh, no, it wasn't that!" Nico blushed nervously, looking back up at Chiron apologetically, waving his hands in front of him. "No, I just always address adults like that, it's how my grandmother taught me."

"Oh, don't worry about it, Nico. I know, I was only joking." He pulled his wheelchair back a bit, getting ready to make a turn and head in some other direction to do who-knows-what. "You sure you're okay? You looked pretty spaced." Chiron was a stern looking man, but underneath his strict complexion really did lie a heart of gold. He was a good, compassionate man who was really just a big mushball, and Nico could tell that. He cared about people and he wanted to always make sure people were okay, even though he did give off quite a scary impression at first.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine. I was just thinking. Sometimes I do that too much and my mind wanders off and then I end up here." He gestured to the ground, letting a small smile creep onto the corners of his lips. "But I'm fine, really. Thanks, though."

With a small nod Chiron turned and left him standing there again.

Glancing back at the camp director for a moment, he turned the opposite direction and started to make his way down to the archery range. It was a little bit of a walk from the main grounds of the camp because they didn't want anyone actually getting shot, but the walk wasn't too bad. It was a boring walk, though. There weren't really many trees or plants or animals he could watch or look at, it was more of just a dirt path he had to follow until he got there. As he got closer, he could hear the slinging and plucking of the bows and the whizzing of arrows. It was always much louder than he expected, although that might be partly because he'd only come to the archery range, like, once. He wasn't a fan of it… unless Percy was doing it, too.

A quick step into the gates and a thorough sweep of the range showed him all the people he didn't care about. A sigh of disappointment escaped his lungs as the gears in his head turned to try and think of where he'd look next. He knew he just told himself that he shouldn't go looking for Percy, but he honestly didn't know what else to do. Plus, he hated any minute he wasn't spending with him, even if Percy didn't know how he felt. He had no idea how he was going to be able to survive in New York when he got back home.

Okay, maybe that was a little overdramatic, but still. He really hated going without seeing Percy, as creepy as that sounded. Which is the main reason he was looking for him now. But just as he was about to turn out of the gate and back onto the main grounds of the camp, he heard a voice shout out.

"Hell yes, another bullseye! C'mon, anyone? Did anyone see that? That was, like, four in a row!" Nico chuckled under his breath, craning his neck to look to the very back of the range.

"Of course…" He whispered to himself, smirking. Of course that would be Percy. Percy was perfect, Percy _would _get four bullseyes in a row and he _would_ try to get recognized it because he was just that good. He made his way over to the end.

"Nico!" Percy exclaimed excitedly, throwing his arms up in the air. "You're finally up! You saw that, right? Please tell me you saw that!" Nico laughed.

"Yeah, I saw it, Percy. It was perfect." His cheeks turned a very soft shade of pink and he smiled.

"Good, see? I've got a witness. I should go for the record or something, did you know it was twelve? Guess the unlucky number thirteen got to whoever set it!" Percy laughed at his own joke, walking over to Nico and patting him on the back. "Dude, you slept for so long. You missed lunch!"

"Yeah, I know, and my stomach is chastising me for it." Percy laughed and Nico's heart fluttered. Percy laughed at _his _joke and Nico never joked. He blushed again. "But it was nice to get some sleep, I've been really tired lately."

"I could tell, man." Percy replied, turning back to the target that was maybe twenty feet in front of him. "You were totally passed out. I tried waking you up to drag you here but you wouldn't budge man. You looked cold, though, so I put some blankets over you." He laughed and Nico's eyes widened slightly.

"You did? Oh, uh, thanks Percy…" His voice suddenly went much quieter and he nervously scratched the back of his head. Why would Percy do that? That was a dumb question though, they were friends. _What's wrong with me?_ Nico thought. All these conflicting emotions turned everything that could be simple into something so much more complicated. They were friends, Percy did him a favor. _Leave it at that._ Nico's mind screamed. _It was nothing. Just being nice. Drop it._

"It was no problem! I couldn't have you contracting hypothermia on me, then who would I drag out here? All my other friends enjoy stuff like this.

"Hey!" Nico shouted playfully. "What, am I not athletic enough for you?" They both laughed, and for a moment Nico didn't think. He didn't think at all. He just enjoyed the moment they were in, and he felt happy. Then it hit him.

"Where are you other friends, anyway? I mean, I figured while I was passed out in the cabin you'd go find other people to preoccupy yourself. You can't have been doing this for three hours!" Nico had no idea why he was asking. He could care less about Percy's other friends, as horrible as that sounded. Or rather, he didn't want to know about Percy's other friends because he just wanted Percy to be with him twenty-four-seven. That was selfish, though, but he couldn't help it.

"Oh? Well I had lunch with them, but then Luke went off with his girlfriend. The others and I went swimming again for a little while, and then we played some volleyball. Then they wandered off to God-knows-where and I came back here! I was hoping you'd be up at that point, but you're here now! You wanna give it a shot?" He held out the bow towards Nico, who put his hands out in front of him and shook his head.

"No, no, thank you very much. I'm not much in the mood to kill anyone." He smiled.

"Well, alright then, your loss." He nocked another arrow that he picked up form the ground and shot it towards the target, which he missed completely. Nico laughed at him and Percy let out a grunt of frustration.

"So… about that record, huh?" Percy laughed embarrassedly.

"I think it's a little too late for that, man."

Percy and Nico had managed to get into the mess hall not long after their rendezvous at the archery range. To Nico's surprise, there had still been plenty of food left, a result of many of the campers still out doing whatever they want on their last day, he presumed. Even more surprisingly was the fact that it had all been left out. Normally it's all cleaned up within a half an hour after the last camper leaves, but today was different he guesses. Or maybe they were just keeping food out all day since it was the last day. Either way, his stomach thanked him and he could have sworn it was talking to him, now grumbling in appreciation. While Percy had eaten another two sandwiches on top of his lunch from earlier, Nico merely nibbled on a roll with butter.

"Do you always eat like that?" He had asked the taller teen.

"Yeah, I think so. I don't pay much attention to my eating habits, but I know it drives my mom insane." Was Percy's reply, still with a mouthful of food. They were the only two in the cafeteria and Nico wondered what Percy was feeling. Probably contentment because he had more food and not much else, while Nico was stuck there continuing to think too much. It wasn't fair, why did Nico have to suffer like this?

After they had eaten they ended up meeting Percy's other friends at the volleyball net (it wasn't really much of a court) where they were still playing intensely. Percy joined in while Nico decided to sit back and just watch and admire Percy's beautiful form. He was a really elegant sports player, and quite flexible for a guy who was on the taller side and definitely didn't do gymnastics. Yes, Nico realized it was a little weird that he was just watching Percy, but no one had to know, right? It was harmless after all. Luckily, Percy's friends had been nice enough to him, greeting him as that "dark, broody kid whose name they couldn't remember." He couldn't be offended, that was pretty much what he was, but Percy laughed and so Nico did, too. Although Percy did add a "Hey, he's pretty cool once you get to know him!" so he couldn't really complain.

He had watched them for about an hour before they decided they had gotten tired of the game, and then they all went back to the mess hall for yet _another _round of food. Nico wasn't surprised, though. They were all big guys who had just been exercising for at least an hour, they were bound to get hungry. Nico opted out of more food, but diligently followed the group because Percy was a part of it… and because he had nowhere else to go.

That had been nearly four hours ago, though. After the scheduled dinner, which fortunately Nico actually made it to, the oldest members of the camp rounded every camper that was fifteen or older up and brought them back to their cabin. It was a big cabin, which made sense since they were the seniors of the camp. Nico had been informed that it was too early to start drinking, but that it was definitely in store for later. They needed to make sure that the counselors went to bed first, as tonight was the only night that they didn't have a curfew. Although most people regretted it the next morning when they needed to get up early to start the cleanup process. Luckily they had the buses to sleep.

Nico told Percy he didn't plan on drinking tonight but Percy just scoffed at him.

"Of course you're going to drink! C'mon, everyone will be and it'll make everything so much more fun." Nico hated how easily he knew Percy could convince him to do something, and Percy didn't even know he was doing it to him. "Please?" He begged. Or maybe it was whining, Nico couldn't really figure out which one. "It'll make me happy, plus I swear it'll make everything more fun!"

Nico knew what the consequences of alcohol could be. He knew what it could potentially lead to, and he was very reluctant about it because he wanted to avoid that at all costs. But he had said yes just to get Percy off his back, though somehow he knew that one way or another this meant that Percy was going to force beer down Nico's throat if he had to. He sighed at the brunette's persistence but ended up just waiting patiently until the party actually started.

When it finally did start, he realized that it wasn't really much of a party, really. Just a lot of people in one big cabin with some music and a couple kegs of beer. Nico had no idea where they could've gotten so much alcohol, but it didn't seem like anyone was really complaining. Percy looked like he was having a good time with his friends, all of them with cups of beers in their hands and laughing and generally just having fun. Nico longed for a social life like that, but he just wasn't that type of person.

Finally he found a big, plastic, red solo cup full of beer being thrust into his tiny hands by a pair much larger and bronzer. He looked up to see an inebriated Percy with his own cup in his other hand.

"You promised you'd drink!" He shouted over the music, which really wasn't that loud anyway.

"You're a really good drunk talker." Nico responded, taking the cup and wrapping his fingers around it.

"I'm not really that drunk, I've always had kind of a high tolerance for alcohol." He let out a loud laugh that was obviously the laugh of someone who was drunk, but Nico decided not to make another comment on it. Instead, he just nodded and looked down into the cup.

It wasn't even an attractive drink. It smelled gross, it looked like piss, and he knew how bad alcohol tasted. He didn't really know why anyone drank, but then he remembered being told that "you don't really drink alcohol for the taste." Whatever, he still didn't get it. It seemed pointless to him, but he soon found himself being prodded and poked on the side but the same teen who handed him the cup.

"Come on!" He whined again, this time he was sure it was a whine. "You _have _to, you _promised_."

"I don't have to do anything, Percy." He chuckled.

"Yes you do, you can't break a promise! That just makes you mean!"

"You're so drunk."

"Drink it, please?" Percy gave Nico a look he had never seen before, a look that almost caused Nico to melt right there on the spot. His eyes grew big and bright and the light seemed to shine off of the green orbs like diamonds. It was the best puppy dog face he'd ever seen in his life, and he was soon putting the red plastic cup to his lips without even realizing it.

"Yay! Yes, see, I knew I could get you to do it!" Even with just a sip or two, Nico remembered why it was that people drank. Once you got past the taste that made him want to vomit, it was a very intoxicating feeling. Wait, that was dumb, of course it was. That's why they called it intoxicated. Nico had a feeling he wasn't going to be a very good drunk. But suddenly his brain was becoming fuzzy and he didn't feel so shitty about himself, at least not at the moment. He felt nice, and he wasn't worried or stressed. For a good moment he couldn't even remember why he'd been so stressed this entire trip. He only remembered when he saw the actual person that caused him such stress, and even then it wasn't nearly as bad as what he'd been feeling the rest of the season.

"So," Percy beamed at him. "How is it? Do you like it?" He poked him and Nico pushed him away playfully.

"Like you don't know, look at you." Percy feigned a look of confusion, placing his hand on his chest dramatically.

"What, me? I don't know what you're talking about!" They both laughed again. It's funny how alcohol not only made you much less aware of things but it also made you much more prone to laughing. Actually, scratch that. It made you more prone to laughing if you were a giggly drunk; Nico had never seen a sad drunk laugh all night.

The night continued on like this for what seemed like forever. Nico found himself becoming more and more accustomed to the taste of the alcohol and somewhere during the span of the night he had decided he liked drinking it, and things took off from there. Nico wasn't very big, so it didn't take a ton of alcohol to get him very drunk. Luckily, he drank slowly, but that didn't mean that he wasn't getting incredibly intoxicated. Percy, on the other hand, was a bigger guy who had a high tolerance for the stuff, and therefore could drink large quantities of it fast and not be as drunk as Nico. He had noticed that Percy had been following him around for most of the night, and he came to the realization that he was keeping an eye on him. He didn't want Nico to get too drunk and pass out and choke on his own vomit or anything, and so Percy was shadowing him throughout the night to make sure that he was okay, which was beyond sweet of him. At least that's what he told himself, but honestly that could be the alcohol talking. He'd hoped it was true, though.

Once Nico was on his fourth or fifth beer, he finally had the sense to glance at the clock. They had started drinking around ten, and now it was one. It had only been three hours, and it occurred to him that he had no idea what he'd done the entire night. It was a lot of nonsense, he was sure of that, but what exactly was a mystery. Either way, he was glad he was enjoying himself so much. He was in a state that wasn't quite euphoria, but close, and he couldn't quite feel anything that caused any sort of pain to him… emotionally or mentally, at least. He was pretty sure if he got punched in the stomach he'd still feel it, along with all its contents coming up his throat. He hoped no one was going to punch him in the stomach.

Eventually, Nico was being pulled away from the part and was hit with the cold, early morning air. He guessed that it couldn't be too long past when he looked at the clock, maybe one thirty, but he looked at the teenager who pulled him out and spoke.

"Percy why'd you pull me out here?" His words were slurred and almost impossible to understand. He giggled when he heard himself.

"You're beyond drunk, dude, it's time to get you some sleep."

"Can't sleep, too much fun!" Nico pointed to the cabin with the same hand he was holding his drink in; a little bit of the beer spilled out, and he took another sip. Percy took the cup from him and Nico reached for it.

"It's time for bed, buddy. You need sleep, the night's nearly over now, anyway." Percy was still very obviously drunk, but he was a better drunk than Nico was. Chances are Percy wouldn't remember anything that happened tonight, either. But Percy could at least function while intoxicated, and he could tell when enough was enough. "I'll be back in like a half hour for my bed, alright? You won't be missing much, I promise."

Nico giggled again as they reached the cabin door and he almost ran into the side. Percy was holding him up with his arm around his back and his hand under Nico's arm, but it admittedly wasn't the most comfortable way of walking. With a little bit of struggling though, Percy finally got Nico to sit down on his bed, where he flopped down onto his back almost immediately.

"Bedddd…" Nico moaned as his back hit the mattress. "Comfy."

"Yeah, comfortable. You all good, man, or do you need anything else? I'm going to go back for a little while. You feeling alright?" Nico sat up groggily and looked at him. His eyes were half lidded and glazed over. He didn't really hear what Percy said; he was too preoccupied with his bed and Percy's face. The taller boy gave him a look of "are you going to answer me?" before speaking again.

"Make sure to lay down on your side, buddy. We don't want you choking on your own vomit or anything." He chuckled and then patted Nico's shoulder. "Get some sleep, I'll see you in the morning alright? And again, I swear, you're not missing anything."

Nico wasn't paying attention. Maybe it was the alcohol that was lowering his inhibitions considerably. Maybe it was the fact that he wasn't thinking straight. Maybe it was because deep down he knew that he was never, ever going to see this boy again. But Nico was drunk and he didn't care right now. He knew that after tomorrow, Percy would no longer be a part of his life, no matter how much he wished. This was his only chance, this was all he could do. He smiled at Percy, a drunken smile that really didn't mean anything, and it was more of just an idle thing than anything.

And then without second thought he reached up and grasped Percy's collar, balled the soft material in his fists, pulled him down, and kissed him.

**Post-Story Notes:** Just for clarification, guys, I know it says in the story that Nico is never going to see Percy again. This is merely what Nico thinks, the story is NOT done yet. Far from it, if anything. So don't worry, I will keep updating, I just didn't want anyone to get scared that it was over. It's not, I promise!


	4. Chapter 4

**Love's Overrated**

**Author's Note:** So you guys didn't say anything about my author's notes or the length, so I'm just going to go ahead and assume you don't mind them being a little long. Unfortunately, I really don't have anything to say here today. I really just want to dive right into the chapter, so I think I'd like to keep this brief today. Also, I've been meaning to say; please excuse my _awful _chapter titles, I haven't always been the best with those. But I'm trying!

Sorry for the kind of back and forth between Percy and Nico in this chapter. I really wanted to get both their POVs here in certain parts so I'm sorry if the transitions are a little wonky. I tried to make them flow but if they didn't as well as I thought I did, I'm sorry. No, I don't plan on doing that for every chapter, but this chapter I really felt the need to. So, yeah, I hope you guys don't mind too much! Lastly, I just want to apologize about the fact that the chapter seemed kind of slow… to me, anyway. I don't know if it'll be any different for you guys reading it, but if the chapter was a little slow and not the best then I apologize, just please bear with me. Next chapter should be fun, so please just hold out until then!

Sorry for the wait, as well, but it's up and here now. Please enjoy!

**Warning: **This is rated M for a reason. I don't plan on making this anything less than that, and it will progressively get more M as the story continues.

_Chapter 4: Remembering_

**_Kibble 93_**

When Percy awoke there was a loud banging in his head and his vision was fuzzy. He was beyond entangled in the sheets of his bed and when he finally freed himself from the makeshift ropes he sat up only to remember that they had done a lot of drinking last night. He was made painfully aware of this when the pounding in his head only worsened when he straightened his back and sat upright in his bed. With a loud, painful groan he threw his feet over the edge of the little cot and made his way to the bathroom in the cabin, turning the faucet on quickly and leaning over the edge of the counter. Another groan escaped his lips and he felt like he wanted to throw up, but all he got was the dry heaves; there wasn't anything in his stomach to upchuck. He wanted water but he feared that putting anything in his stomach would just be in vain, but after another moment of letting it run and resting his head he finally stuck his lips into the water pouring out of the faucet and drank like he hadn't in days.

When he was finished with his liquid feast, he aggressively turned the water back off and with another grunt shuffled back into the room. A quick glance at the single other bed in the room proved that Nico was still sound asleep. Percy smiled. For a minute he admired the boy's sleeping form, his body softly curled into the sheets, clinging tightly to the edges of the thin blankets. It appeared as if Nico had slept much more soundly and calmly than he had because his body looked as if it were completely and utterly at peace. His breathing was deep but not heavy, his sides rising and falling slowly with every inhale and exhale of breath, and his position and lack of sweat made it seem as though he hadn't moved around much that night.

It occurred to Percy that this was the first time in a month he had seen Nico sleeping. For the first month of camp he stayed very reserved and was often asleep by nine or ten 'o' clock, so when Percy finally came in at eleven or twelve he was already fast asleep. But after July had passed, Nico had started staying up, although clearly it wasn't on purpose. Could it have been insomnia? Suddenly Percy was falling asleep before Nico and when he woke up Nico would be up before him, if he had even gotten any sleep at all, which sometimes Percy doubted. The shorter boy started to look more and more tired everyday to the point where Percy was surprised he wasn't passing out on the camp grounds every day. But today Nico was beyond regular sleep. It was deep, deep sleep that he had surrendered to, and Percy found himself smiling again. The kid was hilariously adorable – constantly flustered at the need to talk to anyone and reserved beyond comparison. How many campers had he, excluding Percy himself, even met properly? Sure he was shy, but he was bound to have met some kids like him around the camp just through activities and other stuff like that, right? Yet he always just seemed hang around Percy, never leaving his side if he didn't have to.

Then he chuckled. Nico had been at the party last night and he remembered the boy being completely adamant on staying sober. _That lasted long_, Percy thought before his head pounded again. Thinking too much did that when you had a hangover, especially one as bad as the one he had now. How much had he drunk last night, and what time had he gotten in? He remembered bringing the younger teen in despite his please to stay; he was really drunk last night, and it showed. It was obvious the dark haired boy had never been drunk before because of his behavior, and Percy had decided rather early into the event that Nico had had enough and needed to get back. Naturally at that point Nico didn't want to leave, but he didn't seem too difficult to convince, and soon Percy had had him in his bed. What had happened after that, though?

He could hardly remember anything from the night before, and it made him uneasy because usually he was good at remembering things when he was drunk, but the previous night being so hazy proved that he had drink way more than what was normal for him. He wondered what Nico's hangover was going to be like, or anyone's for that matter. Had anyone drunk more than him?

He had taken Nico back, he remembered that much. He remembered a lot of half-assed dancing because the music wasn't very loud and the cabin was crowded. He remembered a lot of talking and socializing and… kissing! He had kissed someone, that was it! But who? He couldn't even remember what their name started with or what they looked like. But he remembered there was someone who he was kissing, but he also remembered it didn't last very long and soon he had gotten back to the regular party antics that people partook in. This was going to be one of those things that you couldn't remember for the whole day and it pissed you off to no end, he could tell. He thought about it for another minute before he realized he'd been standing in the same spot staring at Nico for a good couple minutes now. He supposed he wasn't actually paying attention to the boy, but still, it was weird; you don't stare at people in their sleep. Hell, he didn't even know why he was looking at Nico at all, which made it even weird. He sat down on his own bed and put his head in his hands, closing his eyes. It was still swimming, but the pounding had gone down. Not by much, but it was a nice change.

He knew the only thing to do in order to get rid of a hangover like this was to wait it out. He would get some coffee at breakfast and get some food in him, but right now all he could do was sit here and wait for that time to come. In fact, what time was it? He leaned over to the side of his bed and reached inside the bag that was laid out there. Shuffling through a mixture of dirty and clean clothes along with a multitude of toiletries, he found his phone and unlocked it. A quick glance at the clock on the screen showed that it was only seven thirty, which meant there as still a half an hour until breakfast and an hour until cleanup started. They only got thirty minutes for breakfast today because the goal was to get the camp tidy by twelve and get on the buses back home by twelve fifteen. The game plan had been set a couple days prior, but now it was time to actually get it started.

Nico stirred in his sleep and Percy glanced over at him, but another second or two showed that the boy wasn't quite ready to wake up. If he wasn't up by eight Percy would wake him; he didn't want Nico to miss breakfast. The boy looked weak enough already, he needed to eat, especially if he was going to help clean up the camp. He chuckled at the thought, then laid back down on his bed. Could he get another half hour of sleep? He wanted to but he was afraid if he fell back asleep now he wouldn't wake back up and he'd miss breakfast and probably get in trouble. It was never good if you missed a meal here, apparently it meant you "didn't care" or something, Percy really didn't know. He turned over onto his side and pulled out the iPod buried in his bag that he wasn't actually supposed to have. What was wrong with a little music? Apparently it was too distracting, but Percy had snuck it in and so far he hadn't gotten caught, an extra half an hour of music wouldn't hurt before breakfast. He stuck his head phones in his ears, hit shuffle, and with a soft sigh he closed his eyes and laid back in his bed.

When Nico awoke, the world seemed to be turning slower than normal and he felt beyond groggy. He quickly glanced around the room he was in which proved that he was safely in his bed, and another moment of silence proved that he was really, _really_ comfortable. He didn't dare move from his position, the sheets he was lying under were laid perfectly on top of him, contouring the curves of his body with precision, and the temperature he was at was so comfortable he didn't ever want to move from where he was now.

For a while, he didn't move. He just laid there, basking in the morning and despite feeling disgusting, his head swimming with whatever it was that happened during a hangover, and his need to throw up, he was very, very comfy. When he was done bathing in the glorious morning minus the hangover, he slowly sat up, only to feel his head suddenly pound from the headache he had. Why did anyone drink alcohol? Hell, why did he agree to drink alcohol last night? He didn't remember a lot, but he knew he had drunk and he felt horrible. When his head stopped spinning and he finally got his bearings again, he looked over across the room and laid his eyes on Percy. The boy had headphones in, which Nico knew wasn't allowed but what was he going to do, rat him out? That would be dumb. He was listening to music and was lying back in his bed with his eyes closed. He couldn't tell if the boy was asleep or not but if he wasn't then he was very much out of touch with reality at the moment. After another moment of silent inspection, though, it hit Nico why had been feeling so good this morning even though he had a massive hangover.

They had kissed.

Okay, so it was more like Nico had kissed Percy. And they might have both been drunk and honestly Nico couldn't remember whether or not it was long or short or if Percy had kissed him back or if Nico forced himself onto the older teen or any of the details really, but he did remember that somehow, their lips had connected for some mystery amount of time and it had sent Nico spiraling into a world of wonder and happiness. Was that wrong? Was it wrong that Nico had taken advantage of a drunk Percy and kissed him and it still made him happy? Probably, but he couldn't help himself. Just at the faded memory and thought of it he was smiling like an idiot, and Nico figure that he was drunk too and his inhibitions were low. He wasn't thinking, but then again that was the main reason he didn't want to drink in the first place; he knew he was going to do something stupid like that and it had only proven true.

Nico picked his phone from his pocket seeing as he had slept in his clothes and glanced at the time. It was five minutes to breakfast and he contemplated waking Percy up, but as if right on cue Percy's eyes fluttered open and look directly into Nico's. His heart stopped for a minute and he felt as if he was just going to melt into a puddle of liquid Nico right there, but when he finally felt his heart start to beat again, he looked back at Percy with an almost enthusiastic timidness, if that made any sense, and a large grin spread across the older teen's face.

"Hey, buddy! I was just about to wake you up for breakfast but it looks like you beat me to it!" He shouted, obviously trying to talk over the music only he could hear. He giggled.

"Um, yeah I just woke up." He blushed, still staring at Percy nervously. He probably looked like a mess and suddenly the need to throw up increased ten fold. _Please don't remember._ He though. _Oh God, please, please don't remember._ He felt incredibly guilty all of a sudden, and he really hated how it felt. He hated himself right now, too, and he just wanted to hide under the covers and never come out. What if he did remember? What if he remembered all too well and was angry? But he didn't seem angry. Could he have remembered and enjoyed it…? No, that couldn't be possible, it just couldn't have been. But he didn't seem like he was angry. Then again, Nico realized he shouldn't jump to conclusions; that's when things went to hell. He'd only heard one sentence from Percy, there wasn't really any way to tell.

"I woke up not too long ago, too." He smiled. "About a half an hour ago, actually." He was still shouting over his music and Nico made a motion to resemble removing headphones. A look of revelation crossed Percy's face and he chuckled, taking them out. "Sorry."

Still nothing about their kiss, or anything that had happened last night, actually. Nico wondered if he had remembered anything that happened. He couldn't just ask though, no, he'd have to find a way to bring it up without directly asking him. If he asked if he remembered "what happened" last night then it would be evident that something had happened, and if Percy didn't remember then he'd find out. But if Nico could find out without asking then he wouldn't have to worry. After pondering how he could phrase it for a minute, he spoke.

"Don't worry about it." He smiled at the brunette. "Have fun last night? Pretty wild, huh?"

"Oh, God man, you know it. I hardly remember anything from last night." That peaked Nico's interest. Hardly anything, which meant that that there were some things that he did remember. What though? Nico wanted to just pry for the answers, but he needed to find a way around it. He didn't want to make Percy suspicious.

"Oh?" Nico faked a chuckle. "Like what?" That was convincing, right? Nico was never a very good actor, he failed theater freshman year and swore never again. Percy chuckled back at him.

"As I said, not much. You were wasted, I'm really surprised you look as good as you do. I remember bringing you back here because if you had gone any longer you might have gotten alcohol poisoning, and that would _not_ have been good." Nico made a mental note that if he ever found out how many beers he had drank that night, he wouldn't go past that at any party if he ever drank again. It couldn't of been that many though, right? He smiled, he thought he was being cautious. "So I took you back, I remember some half-assed dancing to not-that-loud music," He chuckled, rolling his headphones around his iPod and throwing it back down into the bag. "And I remember kissing someone." Nico's heart jumped.

"Really?" He laughed nervously. Fuck, fuck he remembered. But he also said he was kissing someone, not that he had been kissed. And if there was one thing Nico remembered from last night was that he had kissed Percy, not the other way around. Had Percy kissed someone else? Was he remembering it wrong? "Wh-who?" He heard himself stutter, and his voice was getting quieter. "Anyone, uh, good?" He swallowed, or gulped rather, praying that Percy wasn't going to say his name.

_You,_ He imagined Percy saying. _You, you kissed. Why would you do that? How could you take advantage of me?_ Nico would apologize. _I don't want to hear it, I can't believe you'd do something like that. I tried being your friend, obviously you didn't want me for that reason. _Nico would probably cry. It seemed stupid, but he was an overemotional person and if someone started throwing accusations at him and wouldn't listen to him, especially stuff that was true, then he knew he would get crazy.

But the weird thing was that Nico did like Percy in other ways other than just being attracted to him. He wanted to be friends with him, too. He wanted to have some kind of connection with him, not necessarily just a romantic one, but if Percy accused him of that he knew he'd just nod his head and apologize. Suddenly he was terrified of Percy's answer, and he really wished he hadn't asked. If Percy remembered the kiss he'd mention it, wouldn't he? Why did Nico have to ask? God he was such an idiot! What was wrong with him? This is why people didn't like him, this is why he was ignored constantly.

"Honestly? I can't remember." Percy stated with a laugh.

"Sorry…" Nico said almost immediately. It was an instant reaction, something he was preparing himself to say. It was without hesitation , habitual, he knew he was going to have to use the word and so he reacted as needed.

"What?" Percy gave him a confused look, and soon Nico realized that what he had said didn't make any sense. Now Percy was looking at him strangely and he was probably more suspicious now then he was at any other point this morning. God dammit, he was so God damn stupid. Why didn't he ever think about what he was saying before he spoke? His father had always told him that you think about your words before you let them out, and now he was finally realizing that not all of his advice was bullshit.

"Oh, um, nothing!" Nico practically shouted. His heart was pounding in his chest harder than his head was pounding from the hangover. In fact, he'd almost forgotten about his hangover because he was just that nervous. His stomach was filled with butterflies on too much caffeine, and his heart felt like it was about to explode into a million little fragments that would forever float around in his soon to be dead body, forever a reminder of his stupidity and quickness to fall in love. "I really don't know." He breathed out, amazed he could still talk. His could actually feel his chest in pain, and suddenly, he felt it coming up. All the contents of his stomach from the day before, everything he had eaten prior to and during the party he could feel were about to came back up out of his stomach and onto the floor beside his bed. He covered his mouth and gagged, jumping off the bed and practically sprinting to the toilet,

The remnants of all he had eaten from the day before spilled out of his body rather violently. He expelled the sick through both his nose and mouth and when he was done he could feel slight tears in the corners of his eyes and the smell of throw up invaded his nostrils. He kneelt at the toilet for another moment groggily before throwing his hand onto the flush handle and pulling it, watching the fluids swirl down into the drain and disappear into the sewers. He spit back into the now clear water a few more times disgustedly. Smacking his lips and spitting once more, he flushed again and stood.

"Feeling the effects of the hangover?" Percy laughed from inside, their previous conversation completely forgotten. Or at least that's what it seemed like, and Nico had hoped that was the case. Nico just groaned, nodding slightly though he knew Percy couldn't see him and as he moved over to the sink and turned the faucet on, he stuck his head under the running water and took big gulps of the appetizing liquid. Throwing up always made him so dehydrated, and the water running past his lips seemed better than heaven to him right.

"Yeah, they aren't fun. But get used to it if you liked drinking last night!" He shouted from the other room again. Nico responded with another groan and spoke when he shuffled back into the room.

"I'm never ever drinking again, why do people do that? It's not worth it…" He felt like the water he drank was about to come back up, as if speaking was some kind of trigger to vomiting. Or maybe it was speaking to Percy, he really didn't know. But he held the feeling back, swallowing it down and telling himself he wasn't going to do that again, his mouth tasted gross and he suddenly felt like shit physically. His heart was still pounding from earlier, but now his entire body just felt disgusting.

"People always say that, but they always go back. But hey, what do I know?" He laughed and threw his hands in the air before letting them fall to the bed again. "You could be one of those rare people who really means it. The exception of course being whenever I'm around." He grinned at Nico. "I managed to get you to drink once, I'm sure I could do it again."

"Shut up." Nico gripped his stomach, knowing it was true. "Never again, jerk." He was being sarcastic, but he did feel like shit. How many times was he going to acknowledge that? Okay, one more time, he felt like shit. "How are you not, like, dying?" He asked the taller boy, who was still sitting under his sheets.

"Oh, I'm feeling it, don't worry. You're not alone! I'm just way better at handling it; I'm much more used to it than you are." He grinned again, cheekily this time, knowing that it would piss Nico off, although he did assume that Percy was just joking around with him. He glanced at the clock on his phone again.

"I think it's time to go, I'm starving and breakfast started five minutes ago." Nico said sternly.

"You sure you want to go eat right after throwing up everything that was in your stomach?"

"Why do you think I'm so hungry?" They both laughed.

"Yeah, alright. I'm hungry too, let's go."

Percy noticed that Nico seemed to be acting rather peculiar today. Since he woke up he'd been nervous and flustered and not very attentive and he seemed like he as very distracted by something. However, Percy did know that it was his first time being hungover and so it was only natural that he was going to seem a little off. Still, the boy acted as if there were some kind of underlying problem going on. Maybe Nico was upset it was the last day, even though the entire summer he acted like he hated it here. Maybe he had some kind of secret love for it. Percy felt bad, he wished he could help.

As he threw clothes over his barely clothed form, he got up and quickly followed Nico out of the door to the mess hall. He saw quite a few people that he recognized heading off to the same area as him and he waved at them, but ignored their beckoning. For one, he couldn't just leave Nico alone, that'd be rude and just flat out mean of him. He knew Nico really didn't have any friends at this camp other than himself, which is half the reason why Percy started talking to him more. But secondly he told Nico he'd go to breakfast with him, he could just ditch him now!

He mouthed to a couple people that he'd see them later when they were all cleaning up and then followed Nico into the mess hall where they diligently got in line for food. Admittedly the food here was pretty good, unlike what most people would assume, and he actually quite enjoyed it. He slid his tray across the counter in a very old fashioned, cafeteria reminiscent style and while the lunch ladies were all putting food on his and Nico's tray he decided to try and make more conversation.

"What about you? Do you remember anything from last night?" Nico looked up at him. It looked like had to think about it for a moment and wanted to say something that he didn't end up saying.

"Uh, not particularly. It took me a minute to even remember you brought me back, to be honest." His cheeks tinged a light pink and Percy couldn't help but smile at him.

"Oh, yeah. You were totally plastered." He chuckled.

"Thanks for that, by the way." Nico said to him, a very thankful look spreading across his face.

"Hey, it's no problem. What was I going to do, let you die? That would have just been cruel, wouldn't it?" He laughed again, receiving the last of his food and then walking over to a free table with Nico. "Just a word of warning, we'll probably be joined by some of my friends in a bit." The smaller boy nodded.

"I don't know how anyone lives past a hangover." He said to Percy, who was now chomping delightedly on a strip of bacon.

"As I said, you get used to it." His mouth was full but he never had a tendency of making sure his table manners were perfect.

"Still, I feel like shit. Hopefully getting some food in me will help."

"It will, don't worry."

"And I don't get how you can just be so lax about not remembering anything from the night before. It's killing me that I can't figure out a damn thing." There was a hint of doubt on Nico's face, like he knew something but wasn't really going to say anything. But Percy shook the thought away, realizing he was probably just not reading Nico right. He was never the best at reading people's faces, there were too many facial expressions for him to memorize. Although sometimes it did come naturally, but he felt like his immediate thoughts this morning were not correct ones.

As he shoved another forkful of scrambled egg into his mouth and watched Nico nibble on a breakfast roll, he pondered the possibilities of what happened last night. Who the hell did he kiss last night? He scanned the mess hall for faces anyone that might get his brain going. But none of the faces caught his eye or started to jog his memory and the gears were left not turning. A third and fourth sweep proved to have the same results even with new people coming in and even when his stomach was full and his plate was empty and his hangover was much more mild, there was still nobody that he recognized as that person he kissed last night. It was getting to him in that way where things don't really matter but you still want to figure them out because you're just incredibly curious.

He was finished with his food at this point, and suddenly he was hit with a sudden realization that he was incredibly thirsty. He also realized that he didn't actually get anything to drink on the lunch line, and looking back over showed that the line was twice as long as it was before and he had no desire to get back on and wait for a glass of apple juice. He glanced over at Nico who was sipping a glass of orange juice, definitely not his first choice but not something he disdained either.

"Yo, man, can I have a sip? I'm dying of thirst over here." He chuckled slightly. Surprisingly, none of his friends had made their way over here yet. Silently the black haired boy passed him the glass and Percy took it graciously.

There was something on the cup that was familiar. When he was drinking from it, letting the pulpy orange liquid pass between his lips and down his throat, something hit him. Maybe it was the taste of the glass, or the feel of it (which didn't make any sense) or it could have possibly been the indirect contact but suddenly, somehow, Percy knew who he had kissed. Or rather, who had kissed him.

He pulled the drink back from his lips and coughed loudly, the drink spitting out all over the table in front of him. Nico turned suddenly and looked at him.

"Are you alright?" He coughed again, and then once the juice was out of his throat he inhaled. What was he supposed to say? He didn't want to sound accusatory, and he didn't want to freak Nico out. Hell, Nico might not even remember it. They were both drunk beyond return and had absolutely no real inhibitions, that's what being drunk did. Nico, for all Percy knew, could have just wanted to kiss someone. Or maybe he was so drunk that when Percy brought him back he thought that's how he should thank him. That's when it had happened, right?

He had no idea what he was supposed to respond with, but instead of dwelling on it too long he simply nodded and gave a dumb excuse.

"Yeah, just drank down the wrong throat, you know when that happens?" A look of relief crossed Nico's face, and Percy was sure about that. No matter how bad he was at reading face, this one was undeniable and completely readable. Percy wondered if that meant he remembered, but he decided to just give Nico the benefit of the doubt. If he knew he'd bring it up, right? Although thinking about it harder he probably wouldn't. Why would you ever bring up that you drunkenly kissed your friend that you've barely known for two months who's also another guy? It didn't make any sense.

In fact, Nico had never shown any interest in any of the girls at camp or at all, really. But he also didn't seem like the very sexual type, so Percy kind of just left it at the fact that he wasn't much for hooking up with people. It had to have been a drunken mistake, right? There was no way Nico could have been thinking straight with that much alcohol in his body. Nico wasn't that bold, and even if he was attracted to Percy in… that way, he wouldn't have been so quick to do it or so accepting of Percy's bad memory.

Nico nodded and took back the glass, asking if he needed any more. Percy shook his head politely and instead thought about… about what happened the night before. He was almost entirely blocking out Nico at this point and if anyone else had come over he certainly didn't notice it. He needed to figure out more of this. He tried to remember the details to no avail. Had he kissed back? How long was it? Did he really go back to the party after? Had they... God, could they have possibly done anything else? No, no definitely not, they had woken up in two different beds, so that was out. But Percy honest to God couldn't remember if he'd returned it or let it happen or if he just pulled away immediately, the details were still so fuzzy.

Suddenly he felt the need to expel what he had just eaten just as Nico had done earlier in the morning. He felt sick to his stomach, this confusion and the hangover that was still very much there didn't compliment each other, and honestly he didn't know what to do with himself. He felt like he was going to throw up and every time he tried swallowing it back it would work for five minutes before trying to come back up again, at which point he would attempt to suppress the feeling once more.

It wasn't even the thought of the kiss that disgusted him so much. No, Percy had always been quite an open-minded individual and same-sex couples had never bothered him. It wasn't the kiss; it wasn't the fact that their lips touched or that he had probably, in his drunken stupor, kissed back. No, what bothered Percy and made him feel like he was going to vomit up his entire breakfast was the fact that he was straight.

He was straight and he might have, just slightly, undeniably enjoyed himself.


	5. Chapter 5

**Love's Overrated**

**Author's Note:** Well, here we go, chapter five! I'm really enjoying writing this story a lot, guys, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. I can only hope that all you readers who aren't making yourselves known are enjoying it just as much (or hopefully more) as I'm enjoying writing it, so… yeah! And yeah, I know, I feel like this is a lame chapter but obviously necessary for the plot… so forgive me if it wasn't the most exciting. I'm sorry, just wait for next chapter and it should start getting really good! Also, just a quick apology for the wait… I got caught up in a couple things that I wont go into detail about, but it delayed me from writing as much as I would have liked to. Sorry!

I've failed to mention this in the last couple A/Ns, but man, you guys have seriously been awesome. I mean you have all been so sweet and supportive and amazing and I really don't know how to express my thanks, and I can only hope that I can continue to please you with this story and, hopefully, more to come in the future. I don't know, I'm really bad at things like this… but thank you so much guys, keep being amazing. So, please, enjoy this chapter!

(I also just want to address the whole "drunk" vs. "drank" issue of my last chapter. Yes, I'm aware of it. I'll probably get around to fixing it _eventually_, but you guys got the idea, so I'm not too worried about it)

**Warning: **This is rated M for a reason. I don't plan on making this anything less than that, and it will progressively get more M as the story continues.

_Chapter 5: Leaving_

**_Kibble 93_**

The clean up of the camp was… boring, to say the least. It was a lot of general work that any four year old could have guessed, although any normal person would probably ask why the campers were being made to help clean up the camp and pick everything up and put it all back together, but truthfully no one really knew, and no one really wanted to ask. It was just one of those annoyances that got passed around silently because everyone was too afraid to ask, fearing they'd be reprimanded for the stupid question and the lack of obedience. Although Chiron was a nice, considerate man, the same couldn't be said for the heads of camp. You know the kind, the head honchos, the big cheese, the guys that completely and totally ran the place. They weren't always so nice, and no one really wanted to stand up to them.

After breakfast Percy had gone to lie down for a couple of minutes only to be interrupted not a moment after to be informed that the cleanup would start in five. He had heard from quite a few of the veteran campers that these massive, end of the year sweeps took three or four hours, give or take a little depending on the amount of campers per season. Percy hadn't been looking forward to all of this, and he definitely didn't expect to enjoy it, but it definitely did give him a distraction to the thoughts that were burning holes in the side of his head at the moment.

What he had realized was obviously not something that Nico had remembered yet. He was completely oblivious to it, not that Percy had mentioned it, but he seemed so relaxed this morning and so unstressed like Nico was known for. Something like this, had he remembered, would've have thrown him over the edge with anxiety, which meant that the only person who knew about this was in fact Percy. Unless, of course, Nico wasn't making a big deal out of it, but he couldn't see how that would be the case. Yes, they had both been drunk but it was still a big deal… right? Or was Percy making this a bigger deal than it was?

He knew how people were divided into groups for this clean up and he knew that he and Nico were not going to be seeing much of each other today. Nico wasn't a big guy. He was short, just a little on the skinny side, and if Percy could guess weight correctly then he couldn't weigh over one hundred and twenty or one hundred and thirty pounds. He didn't look like he was that strong – not weak, but not strong, not someone that could haul around heavy boxes and move big wooden pieces of furniture, whereas Percy was rather tall, lean but toned and very much athletic. He was captain of the swim team at school as well as co-captain of football and he even dabbled in fencing when he could get the chance. And all of these he'd like to think he was relatively good at, so there really wasn't much concern with his ability to do manual labor. And there was a lot of manual labor to be done.

He heard Nico get sorted into a group that was predominantly girls, something that Nico didn't seem all to thrilled about, although Percy guessed it was more of a matter of having a more effeminate body type and no being as strong as some of the other guys. There were a couple others in his group, of course, people that like him were forced here rather than coming b choice, although most of them probably still hated it while Nico seemed to grow to love the place… or like it, at least.

The smaller boy flashed a smile at the brunette, who smiled back. He waved and watched as it was returned, though his focus was not much on Nico. He felt very… spacey today. Spacey? Was that the word he was looking for? He guessed spacey worked. Once he remembered what had happened, his brain felt fuzzy and he felt like he wanted to hide from the world, which was not something that happened very often. But he was so damn confused, he really had no idea how to react to the situation at hand. But luckily, like he said, the cleanup provided and incredibly good distraction, especially since Percy spent the majority of his day outside and Nico spent most of his day inside doing the mopping and dusting and things of that nature. Though his mind continued to wander back to the subject and he couldn't help but wonder why.

He tried to push it out of his brain every time it snuck back into his head but that was the problem – it kept sneaking back into his head, and he couldn't stop it. He couldn't, for the life of him, figure out why it was so important to him, but as he continued to go through the possibilities he found that there were caterpillars going through metamorphosis in his stomach and his heart somehow had grown wings, because it would flutter like no tomorrow. He didn't know if he should approach Nico about it and just flat out ask him, or if he should just leave it alone and pretend it never happened or if he should even care so much. Well… that last part he couldn't really help, but he couldn't stop wondering if Nico knew anything about it at all. He had been really, really drunk the previous night, so he wouldn't be surprised if the boy couldn't recall anything.

Another thing Percy was having a hard time figuring out was if it was even on purpose. He had no idea of Nico's sexuality. Everyone is kind of just… straight in other people's minds until otherwise proven gay. And Nico had never been on of those stereotypical gays where people weren't surprised if he came out. So Percy had always assumed that he was just a straight, but not very sexual person. It didn't make a ton of sense for a teenage boy, but Nico was, from what Percy could gather, pretty unique. So Percy never really brought up the subject of girls or sex with him; he had his other friends to talk about that stuff with. He didn't need to talk about that kind of stuff with Nico, though, because Nico was… well, he was Nico. He was _interesting and engaging and easy to talk to, and you didn't need to talk about girls_ to find a subject with him. Although with Percy now suspecting that his sexuality was something other than straight, he could see that that's probably for the best. He couldn't imagine how awkward it would have been for Nico had Percy tried to constantly bring up girls and sex with the younger teen because he wouldn't know what to say to it.

The day was nearing its end, Percy could feel it. And what he meant by end was the end of camp, the day itself wasn't even halfway done. Although Percy was already feeling incredibly exhausted; the staying up late plus the hangover plus the waking up early plus the physical labor wasn't doing much to help. But he knew that soon, they'd be done, and then they'd all be getting on buses to head back to their own homes, some kids even having to get a taxi to get to the airport so they could fly home. Although there weren't many, maybe three or four in total, who had to do that, he knew that they were lurking around somewhere.

Maybe it felt like the day was moving so quickly because they were way ahead of schedule. Some of the head counselors and even a couple veteran campers had started working early, and the whole camp had underestimated just how many people there actually were. So they were at least an hour ahead of where they were supposed to be, and they realized that there was a good chance they would finish early.

Despite him not seeing Nico at all, spare the couple glances and smiles, today, he worked very quickly because he knew that the work was good for him, not just physically but mentally. If he wasn't working or moving around, he was thinking. And if you knew Percy, then you knew that a thinking Percy is a very bad thing, because when Percy was thinking he overthought everything. _Everything. _But working quickly was paying off and he could see it. When he worked quickly, the people around him worked quickly, and soon enough he found that he had finished everything he was assigned to and then some. He considered going to find and help Nico, but decided that wouldn't help himself.

Dammit, why was he thinking about Nico so much? Why was everything about him so important today? The way he looked so groggy and sleepy and yet still didn't look bad, the way he was too small to actually do any of the manual labor… and that kiss, that God damned _fucking_ kiss. It had screwed with his brain, that's all. That's what it was, he was being messed with. It was Nico's fault.

See, Percy had always had this problem with over-affection. When he got attached to someone, he got really attached to someone. And when he liked someone, he wouldn't ever let them out of his sight. He was a very, very loving person and it wasn't always a positive aspect for him. When people confused him like this, like Nico was right now, this is what happened. He started to think about them too much and he couldn't figure out why. He had eventually just told himself it was because he loved too much, which was true, but still… it had never been over a… a _boy._

The entire camp finally ended their work around a half an hour early, much to everyone's delight. There were a lot of campers around and Percy noticed that people were starting to use this time to start to say goodbye to everyone that they had blossomed friendships with, and he noticed even people that hadn't seemed to hang out much were giving each other hugs and pats on the backs. There was a lot of exchanging phone numbers and Skypes email and a million other ways to get in contact with each other, and a lot of promises of being looked up on Facebook. What killed Percy was the thought that while some people would carry through, a lot of these were empty promises. These papers with people's numbers would go up on someone's bulletin board only to never be looked at again, and Percy hated that. He knew even he would be guilty of that – he was a loving guy and he'd try his best, but he definitely couldn't keep up with everybody when he never saw any of them on a regular basis. He was a very forgetful guy and he knew many contacts would be lost or calls would be forgotten to be made, and he knew all these promises would just fall through the cracks.

Would that happen with him and Nico? He thought maybe he should go find the boy and get his cell phone number, or his email, or something. But would he forget about the younger boy, too? Would he slowly slip from his mind, much like many other things had in his past, and only become faded memories? He really, really hoped that they didn't… but he couldn't just stop forgetting things. It wasn't a habit he liked, mind you, but it wasn't something you could just drop either. And it sucked.

_Just admit it._ His brain mocked him. _You liked it. You like him. _He shook his head in vain, trying to get the thought out of his head. He told his head to shut up. It wasn't helping him and he wanted it to stop.

"Jackson!" A voice called from behind him. He turned on his heel, a little surprised.

It was Clarisse La Rue, one of the tougher girls that attended the camp. And by "tougher" Percy meant one of the toughest people at the camp. She was big, brutish, almost like a human, female hulk. She was an aggressive girl who looked like she had been through a lot in life, though he wasn't sure if that was actually true. But she had always kind of been his half-bully this summer. He didn't really get bullied, but she wasn't very nice to him. She teased him, picked on him, and tried to beat him at literally everything. He guessed that was more like a rival, but either way he will never admit to it getting to him. It really didn't though, he always kind of just let it slide. She obviously got enjoyment out of it, he wasn't going to stifle her fun.

She was silent for a moment in front of him before awkwardly shoving her hand out in between the two of them. He looked at it for a moment before she spoke up again.

"You're supposed to shake it, stupid." Percy blinked at her.

"Oh, right. Sorry." He replied, chuckling slightly and taking her hand, giving it a firm shake before letting go.

"What's so funny?" She snapped at him in response to his small laugh.

"Huh? Nothing, why? I just wasn't expecting this from you."

"Yeah? Well I'm, uh, I'm going to miss you, is all." At the realization of what she said she corrected herself. "I mean I'm going to miss beating your ass at everything we do."

"Uh-huh, sure you will." He smirked.

"Shut up, loser." She defended. "I'm not going to, like, miss _you._ That would be stupid." He could see the slight tinge of pink on her cheeks and he smirked again. He walked up beside her and turned so that they were both facing the same way, simultaneously patting her on the back. She was significantly taller than him, which was weird for him since he was at least a little beyond average height. And as he had mentioned before, she was big. Not fat big, muscle big.

"No, no, I know it is." He said. "Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this, since obviously it doesn't mean anything." She blushed again, punching him in the arm (quite hard, he might add) before walking off. He smiled at her, though she was turned now, and he turned around himself, only to be greeted by the Stoll twins.

"Was that just Clarisse saying goodbye to you?" Travis spoke first.

"Yeah, I think it was!" He nudged his brother. "Looked like she was tearing up, too!"

"Oh, come on guys," Percy defended the girl. "She was not tearing up, it was just a friendly handshake acknowledging the fact that she's going to miss picking on me." He chuckled.

"I think she likes you." Connor said.

"Yeah, same here." Travis added.

"What?" Percy retorted. "You guys are crazy, there's literally no evidence that that could be true at all!"

"Except she's the biggest bully at camp," Travis started.

"And she was just saying goodbye to you." Connor finished.

"I am not dealing with you two right now if you're going to keep this up." Percy stated through a smile. They both nodded and responded with a "yeah, yeah, alright." Percy opened his arms to signal that he wanted a hug from the both of them. He had grown quite close to the Stoll twins in the past two months, something that he hadn't expected to happen. They were hilarious and interesting and fun to be around, and they always had some kind of crazy, convoluted idea for whoever they were hanging out with, which made things pretty hectic but really, really amusing.

He knew they were a couple of the kids that had to actually make a flight back home, but he did get both their numbers on a post-it and he was told to text them and that he "better show up next year because for a new camper he was a pretty cool guy". Percy just nodded to signal that he promised he would, and he knew he would actually try and keep in touch with these guys because they themselves were pretty cool. He looked at the note and a short chuckle escaped his lips; even their handwriting was similar. They were definitely twins, with or without the "identical" part.

He said farewell to quite a few other people that he had met and acquainted himself with over the course of the camp. Ethan Nakamura, who was a guy that seemed like he took holding grudges a little too seriously. Percy had taken notice that he had more than a few enemies in the camp, and concluded that he had been here for quite a while and didn't take too kindly to when he was messed with… and he never forgot about it. Ever.

Then there was Luke, who was kind of like a toned down Ethan. He could be a little scary, a little intimidating, to the younger kids, but he really wasn't a bad guy, just manipulated easily. But Percy could see right through him and could tell that he really didn't mean any harm, but did cause quite a bit of trouble anyway. Most of the trouble he got in was stupid stuff though, like breaking into the cafeteria at midnight to get food because he was hungry, or spray painting one of the cabins pink or something.

He also bid a farewell to a girl named Piper, someone who he had wished he'd gotten to know a little more than he had. She seemed like a nice enough girl and when he did talk to her he liked her. He didn't understand why she went to this camp though – her dad was quite a well renowned movie star, she could be anywhere she wanted for the summer. He thought it was one of those situations where because she was a rich girl she didn't want to act like it, because even though she was incredibly gorgeous, her clothes definitely didn't match her physical appearance.

There were quite a few other people, some people he had only met once or twice and embarrassingly didn't know the names of, but said goodbye nonetheless. What was he going to do, deny them a farewell? That would just be rude, and wouldn't make much sense at all. But really he was just buying time. He didn't want to see Nico. He wanted to distract himself. He didn't want to say goodbye.

Not yet.

But to his dismay, not fifteen minutes before they were going to board the buses, Percy watched Nico approached him. The boy looked sad, like he was suddenly incredibly upset about the fact that camp was ending. Percy felt sympathetic for him and it felt as if his heart ached for the boy. Seeing him like this… watching him approach with this sulking, brooding expression gave Percy this feeling of being utterly distraught, and he really didn't like it. It bothered him.

"Hey…" The younger boy spoke, almost whispered, as he approached the taller boy.

"Nico!" Percy spoke much more enthusiastically and he could see a small smile creep onto the dark haired boy's lips. "How are you buddy?" He was still trying to forget about the whole ordeal that had happened the night before. He decided it would be best if he just didn't mention it. If he forgot about it and Nico didn't remember then they could act like it had never happened.

"I'm okay…" He said. "I'm… I'm sadder about leaving than I thought I would be. It didn't really occur to me that this has been my home for the whole summer, y'know? And now it's just… now it's just going to be gone." Percy moved to Nico's side and threw an arm over his shoulder.

"Well, I suppose it's not actually going to be _gone_, you just won't be here, right?" That brought another smile to Nico's lips and he nodded.

"Yeah, I guess. I'm just sad, is all. But don't worry about it," He reassured. "I've been through worse, I'll get over it." A look of pain crossed his face momentarily before it returned to normal and Percy caught just a glimpse of it. He wondered what that "worse" could have been, but immediately knew not to ask. If Nico wanted to tell him, he would, but Percy knew better than to not ask people about their bad experiences.

"Anyway," Nico continued. "I figured since this is our last day and you're pretty much the only friend I've actually made this summer, I though I'd… um…" He held a piece of paper out in front of Percy. "It's my number." Percy pushed it away and that look of hurt, along with confusion, crossed Nico's face again.

"No, no not like that." Percy smiled, tilting his head to the side. "I'll take your number, just not yet. We still got the bus ride, right? We'll sit together and then once one of us is getting off, we'll exchange them, alright?" He got a nod from Nico who seemed to be happier, and then Nico walked off, explaining that he'd see him on the bus.

Those damn feelings came back again, every time he saw Nico. Those God damn feelings that just wouldn't leave him alone, and he didn't even know what they meant. He didn't like Nico, not like that. He _couldn't_ like Nico like that. It was just a dumb kiss that happened while they were drunk and he probably wasn't even remembering it right.

He must've gotten caught up in his thoughts, because soon enough he heard the final roll-call whistle and the counselors were ushering everybody onto the two buses they had. No way of dividing them, there just simply wasn't enough room on one. And they were big buses, larger than average. They all hoarded onto the buses begrudgingly, everybody obviously upset to go, and when they all found their seats they started calling out names. They went through the entire list twice and once the counselors gave the a-ok to the other bus and vice versa, they were started up and heading off.

The ride was about two hours long, and he knew that for some of the people who lived in the border states or in other cities the ride would be longer. Luckily Percy lived right in the city they dropped off in, so it'd only be an extra five or ten minutes to get back home, if there was no traffic. He idly wondered where Nico lived, and he wondered if he was one of those kids that would have to fly home. He hoped not, but he was also glad that he wasn't one of those kids. He hated flying so, so much and he avoided it at any time possible. He had no idea why, but being in the air was not something that he enjoyed at all.

It was about fifteen minutes in when he felt something softly fall onto his shoulder, and Percy realized it was a sleeping Nico who's head and lolled over onto his shoulder. Percy chuckled and spoke to the sleeping form.

"Have a little bit too much to drink last night?" He asked, obviously not expecting an answer. He found it amusing though, people who were getting drunk for the first time were always the funniest. He was glad Nico hadn't embarrassed himself too much though. But that led Percy to wondering what a regular drunk Nico was like. He kind of hoped that it was completely different from the drunk Nico he had seen, but then he kind of hoped he wasn't. If he ever watched Nico drunk again, he hoped that it'd be just as amusing only a little toned down. He wondered if Nico would be asleep for the entire bus ride… that was something he hoped wouldn't be the case.

He tried to nap himself but found it difficult. Although it had let up, he still did have a really bad headache and, much to his dismay, he still couldn't stop thinking. He really, really hated when he overthought, but he couldn't always control it. He sighed and rested his head against the window, Nico's head still resting on his shoulder.

Eventually he managed to drift off into a very light sleep. Deep enough where the bumps in the road wouldn't wake him, but light enough where he would still wake easily. Usually he wasn't one to dream during his sleep. Well, remember dreams anyway, or have coherent enough dreams to actually interpret or anything. But this time he dreamt. Nothing important, he didn't think, nothing that meant anything. But the more he dreamed, the more it came to him.

He dreamed that he was out in a street or something somewhere. A suburban area, definitely not his home or anywhere close. There were houses lined across streets with big property and green lawns. White fences and flowers and bushes decorated the front of every house, with an individual mailbox for each residence. He had no idea where he was, but it was kind of nice.

There was somebody on his arm. Or holding his hand, same difference. Significantly shorter than him and looking up at him, but the face was blurred out completely. In fact, the whole figure was just a big blur, and he couldn't make out a single feature or detail on this person, but he assumed from the way they were working that this person was someone that he was very close to. If not married, then in a long-term relationship. He got this because they were walking towards a house that had a mailbox in front of it labeled "Jackson", his own last name and what he assumed his mailbox and therefore his house.

He tried to speak but he couldn't, so he was left silent. The other figure was silent as well, but they entered the house and started walking towards the stairs. There were no children around but he caught a glimpse of a nursery on his way through the upstairs hall and guess that they were his kids? He couldn't remember anything from his past, and he certainly didn't remember having kids. He guess that whoever was still grasping his hand he was married to, but you don't necessarily have to be married to have a kid. Percy just wasn't the kind of guy who was going to have kids with people he wasn't married to.

He looked down at the figure again, the figure that was really more of just a blurry mess, and he awoke. The face was replaced by Nico's, who fit almost perfectly, but Percy was too groggy and sick feeling to notice. Nico was awake now and looking at Percy.

"How long was I asleep?" He asked the boy.

"Um, like an hour since I woke up. There's only like ten minutes left of the bus ride…" He spoke softly. "I was hoping you'd wake up so we could have a proper goodbye, since as I said you're the only friend I made here.

"Aw, Nico, I wouldn't miss it for the world!" He laughed, patting the boy on the back. He glanced around and noticed a lot of people with their headphones in or sleeping, things to keep them idly occupied while they waited.

"I'm… Uh, I'm really going to miss you Percy." Were those tears in his eyes? No, definitely not. Nico was a rather distant person from what he gather, those were probably just empty words and he definitely wasn't someone who get so emotionally attached to someone so easily.

"I'm going to miss you too, Nico. A lot, actually. I ended up becoming much better friends with you than I thought I would." Nico nodded back at him, fishing through his pocket.

"Am I allowed to give you my number now?" He asked.

"Yeah, of course!" Percy went into his own pocket and pulled out a crumpled post-it, and then a pen soon afterward. "And, here, I'll give you mine too. This way whichever one of us gets the time first can text the other one, okay?" There were tears in Nico's eyes, and Percy felt horrible. Had he done something wrong, or was Nico really that sad about leaving camp?

"Okay, that works!" He seemed to perk up a little bit, thrusting the piece of paper in front of Percy, who took it gladly. Percy scribbled his own number down on the paper he was holding and gave it to Nico, who grabbed it and held onto it tightly. "You swear we'll keep in touch?" Nico asked nervously.

"Swear." Percy stuck his pink out, the age-old childish unbreakable pink swear about to take place. Nico giggled and wrapped his pinky around Percy's and they shook once.

"Good" He responded.

"So…" Percy started. "Where exactly do you live, Nico?"

"Oh, pretty close to the drop off point actually… Maybe fifteen minutes? So… Manhattan." Percy's eyes widened.

"No you do not." He stated.

"Um… yeah, I do, why? Is something wrong, do you not like Manhattan?" A worried look crossed Nico's face.

"No, no! It's just… you'll never guess it." A huge grin spread across Percy's face, spanning from ear to ear. "It's just… I can't believe I've never met you before. I mean… no way, right? You actually live in Manhattan?"

"Yeah," Nico said. "Will you please explain to me why that's such a big deal.

"It's just…" He smiled again, letting out a laugh of excitement. "I live there, too!"


	6. Chapter 6

**Love's Overrated**

**Author's Note:** Oops. Well okay, look. I wish I could just shower you with excuses as to why it's been so long since my last update, but really every time I think of any they all just sound really mediocre. I'll blame it on the fact that Mark of Athena came out, along with Resident Evil 6 and Pokémon White 2, so I really have been kind of… preoccupied with other unimportant things. Not school or anything, pfft.

I really am sorry that you guys had to wait so long, though. There are lots of reasons, actually, why I haven't updated in so long but I'd really rather not get into detail. Except, of course, for the fact that I got pounded with Hurricane Sandy and the only reason I'm able to upload this at all is because I'm at my friend's and he has a generator, unlike me. But I'll really try to make it so you guys never have to wait this long again. No promises, obviously, but I'll really try. I'm not done yet, I swear!

But I'm here now! Anyway, I just want to apologize for such a long wait, and I can only hope that you all had Mark of Athena to keep you entertained while you waited. I know you're eager to read, so I'll just stop talking and get right to it. Enjoy!

**P.S.** This was written at pretty late hours of the night and I just want to get it up. If there are mistakes, I'm sorry for those, too. I'll probably read over tomorrow and edit and stuff like that, but I really want you guys to have this now. Thanks.

**Warning: **This is rated M for a reason. I don't plan on making this anything less than that, and it will progressively get more M as the story continues.

_Chapter 6: Manhattan_

**_Kibble 93_**

Nico's slender fingers were wrapped tightly around the piece of paper in his hand, his grasp so firm it was as if the little note card was his entire existence and he just couldn't let it out of his sight. He stood on the sidewalk, watching cars pull up and go by and all he could do was clutch on to this little white slip and never, ever let it go.

The thing is, the little paper wasn't even _that _significant. It was just ten little numbers written hastily down in handwriting that to the average person probably looked a little sloppy, but to Nico was utterly perfect. But maybe that was the problem, everything he did, everything he was, was perfect, and maybe that's why these numbers were so important to Nico. Or it could have possibly been the fact that he was far too deep in love for his own good.

A hand waved at him from behind one of the cars in the parking lot. It was a little car, fairly new and a brilliant shade of blue, the kind of blue that you didn't even know they made cars in until you saw it and you realized that it looks better than any other blue car you've ever seen. Paired with the hand was Percy's face, Percy's smile, poking out from behind the automobile and staring directly at him. Nico smiled and waved back, and then watched as Percy got into the car and his mother, Nico could see through the window, drove off.

He wondered if she'd ask Percy who he was. That short boy with the dark hair, wearing predominantly black clothing and paler than death itself. He wondered if she'd say "He doesn't seem like the kind of person you'd be making friends with, Percy!". He wondered if she had a smile just like Percy's own, and if she was as beautiful as Percy was handsome. He wondered if he'd ever get to meet her, and if he did what she'd think of him. What would Percy say back to that?

"Oh, he's a cool kid. We were roomies, that's how we met." Nico guessed that Percy wouldn't make a big deal about it. He hadn't even remembered the kiss, not that it was with Nico anyway. He said he remembered kissing someone but never asked Nico about it or approached him about it, he kind of just figured it had been lost in Percy's thoughts and that it was completely insignificant to him. Nico was just a friend to Percy, and quite honestly Nico probably should just be considering Percy as a friend as well. But he couldn't, he just couldn't look at Percy that way and it killed him because he wished he could. He wished that he could just forget about everything that involved feelings and just think "Percy is a good friend."

He felt like he wanted to cry, but he felt like he didn't at the same time. The reason he didn't want to cry was because he had no reason to cry, not really. There wasn't anything bad in his life at the moment, nothing that could trump the fact that he had Percy's number in his hand. But he felt like the amount of emotion he was feeling at the moment was just so overwhelming it needed to escape his body somehow, and tears were probably the best way to do it.

He was still standing on the side of the parking lot, awaiting his grandmother's clunky old car that she refused to replace. He watched as each and every camper he had learned the names of drove off or walked away until he was the last one standing. He was alone, but that didn't really bother him. He was too engrossed in the feelings he had at the moment, and he was in fact still staring at the handwriting on the paper that was in his clutch. It didn't take that long for him to hear his grandmother approaching, the car louder and more obnoxious than any other that he'd ever seen. His gaze rose from the paper to the old green thing, dusty and desperately in need of a cleaning.

She approached him slowly and made a stop right beside him. As she rolled down the window he could see her face turn to delight at the sight of her grandson, someone she hadn't seen in nearly two months.

"Nico, baby!" She shouted. Her hearing was far from perfect at this point and she very often spoke too loudly, much to Nico's chagrin.

"Hi, _Nonna_." He sighed, stuffing the notecard into his pocket and getting into the passenger's seat.

"You need a haircut!" She told him. Typical of his grandmother, it was something she'd say. Just one of those things that grandmothers said. She was happy to see him of course, but she first had to point out all the obvious things about him because they, for some reason, needed to be spoken out loud. Nico ran a hand through his hair and ruffled it.

"Yeah, I know. Two months away from home will do that to you." He smiled, turning towards her.

"Of course, of course!" She started driving again, He honestly had no idea how she still had her license – she was a short, frail woman who's eyes barely worked and even then they didn't make it much higher than the dashboard. They just barely made it past and he guessed that she was able to see fine, but it still made him nervous sometimes. He was just thankful they had never gotten into a wreck. He always offered to drive – he was nearly seventeen – but she always refused. Nico supposed it was one of those motherly qualities. They never seemed to be comfortable letting their children drive with them in the car, and when they did they were constantly stomping on the invisible brakes in the passenger's seat.

"Did you have a nice time, _bambino_?" She asked him, her Italian accent dancing across her tongue. Throughout her years in America her accent had become much less prominent, especially after his grandfather died. Other than the single words, she seemed to never have any real reason to speak Italian anymore so her once strong, heavy accent had now become a simple thing. Engaging and endearing, but still understandable.

"I suppose so." He shrugged. He thought about mentioning Percy, but decided against it for the sheer reason that he didn't feel like answering any questions. He knew she'd get overly excited that he'd made a new friend, considering up to this point all he'd had was Juniper (which wasn't even a problem in his eyes, to be honest; he loved the girl) and he knew she'd ask him what he was like and how they'd met and blah blah blah blah blah.

Luckily, she didn't push it any further, though that did surprise him. Normally she would have asked who, how, where, despite him not actually mentioning any specific person. She'd probably ask if he was going to keep in touch with any of them, too. He did plan on keeping in contact with Percy as much as possible, especially considering they both lived in Manhattan. He would, however, give Percy days off as to not make himself seem overly annoying. Anyway, his grandmother kind of left it at that, ending the discussion with a simple nod and a "that's great, Nico." He thanked the almighty lord for that, because in truth he really was exhausted and he wanted nothing more than to go home and take a nap. And text Percy, of course, but he decided that it would probably be best if he held off of that until at least tomorrow. He didn't want to seem desperate or pushy, he wanted to sleep, and he figured Percy was going to want to get settled back in and call his friends and stuff like that.

Which reminded him, he needed to call Juniper.

It wasn't long before he was finally driven back to his house and allowed to go lay in his bed and relax. Naturally his father had been there waiting for him, and it was honestly nice to see him after two months. Just because Nico lived with his grandmother didn't mean that he disliked his father in any sort of way, really. Sure, he didn't agree with every life choice the man had made but he wasn't a _bad_ man. Hed just made mistakes, as had everyone else on this planet. Hell, he didn't even really hate Persephone, his new (well not so new anymore, but still new to Nico) wife. But she didn't like Nico very much and so their relationship was a little strained.

Living with his grandmother also didn't mean that he didn't see his father often, because he did. Sometimes he would even stay the night at his place, although that wasn't often because of the previously mentioned strained relationship between him and Persephone. It just made everything really tense in the house, but occasionally Nico didn't care and enjoyed being around his father. And Nico could tell that his father really did love him back, he was just not very good at showing emotion. It took Nico nearly sixth months to convince him to propose to Persephone because he honestly didn't know how to express feeling in any way. And let's face it… Nico was pretty damn good at expressing emotion.

Although Nico figured maybe spending nearly two decades owning a mortuary would do that to you. Deteriorate your ability to show people what you feel. Being in the business meant that you had to be strong, and you certainly had to be bold. Sure, sometimes demanding full price for an expensive coffin from a mourning family seemed a little harsh, but how else are you supposed to make money? Morticians have families too.

Unfortunately, his father's visit was short.

"Hades…" Persephone had said to him all too enticingly. And yes, his name really was Hades, and sometimes Nico wondered if that had anything to do with the fact that he had gotten into the whole "dead people" thing, or the fact that Persephone had been so attracted to him.

"I've got dinner waiting in the oven, and we really shouldn't hang around too long…" It didn't surprise Nico that she would say this. Give your son a hug and then bounce, that was always what she wanted. At least Hades had looked at Nico for approval this time, which Nico happily gave him. A simple nod did the trick, telling him that he appreciated the visit and he knew what Persephone was like. Plus just seeing him was nice, he really didn't need any more. Though his father did get scolded by his grandmother, which was absolutely amusing to Nico, he was eventually allowed to leave. Nico couldn't complain, though, because he really could have used some rest, and hanging around making conversation with his dad wouldn't have helped with that. He knew they would catch up later.

As soon as he made it up to his room, he heaved himself onto his bed and let out a huge sigh. Normally he would just bury himself face first into the pillows and cover himself in every blanket he owned and fall right to sleep, but he really didn't feel like that right now. Instead, he checked his phone quickly, hoping that maybe Percy had texted him, but he hadn't. Nico had to tell himself not to take offense to this because Percy was most definitely getting settled in at home with his family and he probably didn't have time himself for texting or calling anyone. Not everyone lived with their grandmother and had a father who was so easily controlled by his wife. But because Nico did, he actually had time to communicate with other people this soon after getting home. He didn't hesitate to open his contacts and click Juniper's name, despite having her number memorized.

It only had to ring twice before the incredibly bubbly end excited voice answered the phone on the other end.

"Nico!" She practically shrieked, loud enough for Nico to have to pull the phone away from his ear for a second. "Nico! How are you? Oh my gosh you're back aren't you? Why didn't you call me sooner?" Nico smiled. He was happy to hear his friend's voice again.

"Juniper, Juniper, calm down. I only just got back, what, and hour ago? I had to actually get home and say hi to my dad and stuff. I would've called sooner if I could have, you know that." He chuckled.

"Yeah, yeah, okay." She said, and he imagine she was waving her hand like you would shoo a fly away. "Whatever. Anyway, how are you? How was camp?"

"Camp was good, better than I expected it to be at least." And he explained everything. Well… almost everything. He kind of left out the part about kissing Percy, or kissing anyone at all. Actually, he left out Percy altogether. He wanted to see if she asked, and if she didn't' then he would mention her. If she did, he'd answer.

She asked about a lot. She asked how the cabin was, how the activities were, if the weather was good and if the people and counselors were nice. She asked if he had fun approximately twelve times, and asked if he had made any friends, which he said he had.

"Oh, that's so good! I knew you would, there's no way I'm the only person out there that loves that adorable little face!" He rolled his eyes. It was amusing, but also kind of obnoxious, how she treated him like a child. Then again, maybe he had brought it upon himself – he allowed her to baby him, even though they were the same age. But he was still allowed to be annoyed.

"Oh, shut up June. You know all too well it's perfectly possible."

"Obviously not! You said you made friends, so it's clear there are other people that like you!" He knew if they were face to face she would be sticking her tongue out at him, but he'd be sticking his right back at her.

"Yeah, whatever. What about you? How many friends did you make, Ms. Perfect?" She laughed at this.

"I don't know, Nico. I don't count my friends!" But she did tell him specifically about this one girl, Rachel, who she really clicked with. Apparently she's a little more serious than Juniper but just as fun and an _incredible_ artist, and Nico would love her.

"You really would!" She exclaimed. "And she lives right here in Manhattan with us, so it'll be totally easy for you to meet her! But she goes to a public school a couple blocks down from where I live, so it's why I've never met her until now." Nico knew that Manhattan was big, and that even if she went to the same private school that he and Juniper did there would still be a chance she wouldn't know her. He didn't know half the people in their school.

"Okay, okay. I promise I'll meet her as long as you initiate it. I'm not going to just meet her for the first time without you there." He laughed. "So any luck in the love department?" He asked her. He knew that she was currently looking for a boyfriend but wasn't really having any luck at the moment.

"Not particularly. Unfortunately the whole 'artsy boys are usually gay' stereotype was all too true, at least at the camp I went to." He chuckled again. "You would have liked it there. Which reminds me!" And here came the question. "What about you? Meet any cute guys at your camp that could be potential dates?"

Juniper was the only person who one hundred percent knew he was gay, and that's really because she was the only person he trusted with that information. Of course that only made her love him more, which was… weird. He guessed she just played into that cliché as well, but it didn't bother him too much because she didn't love him _because _he was gay, and he knew this because she loved him even before he told her.

"Um… sort of." He responded, scratching the back of his head. He wasn't really sure how to approach this question. She squealed, though, which was pretty much the response he was expecting. And that was just because she thought it was nice Nico was actually interested in someone. Don't get her wrong, the reaction would have been the same if it was a girl.

"Really? Who? Tell me now, Nico!" She screamed at him. "What's his name? What's he like? How old is he? How'd you meet?" Question after question poured out of her mouth.

"_Geez, _June, calm down! Give me a second and I can answer your question, oh my God…." He sighed. "Okay, so his name's Percy, and we were roommates, which is how I met him. He's seventeen, so a year older than us and going into senior year. And yes, I got his number, don't worry. He lives in Manhattan, too, just like your friend…" He half-smiled, but let out a small sigh at the same time. He waited for more questions, but none really came, which surprised him.

"Oh my God, that's amazing. I hope it works out Nico! Let's just pray he's into boys, because we all know you're wasting your time chasing a straight guy!" He laughed at that, which was nice.

"Yeah, I'm not really sure about that part, so let's just see I guess. But I think I'm going to call or text him tomorrow and see if he wants to hang out or something.. He gave me his number without me even asking, so I'm going to assume I can do that."

"That's so awesome, Nico, good luck! Anyway, my mom is calling me down for food, and you know how she gets. Once food is cooked, you must come down and eat it immediately! Anyway, I'm off, but we _totally_ have to hang out, soon! I've missed you! Bye Nico!" And with that she hung up. He chuckled once more, she didn't even wait for his farewell, which was typical Juniper.

That night he had slept like a baby. Partially because it was really, really nice to have his own bed again, and partially because he was dreaming of Percy again. Though he wouldn't be able to tell you exactly what the dream was, he could tell you it was incredible, and that was evident from how energized and well rested he looked in the morning. Nico wasn't normally a morning person, either, so this was a very rare occurrence. One that came as a delight to his grandmother.

"Oh, Nico, _bambino_, you look so awake this morning!" She exclaimed excitedly as she put a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him. He nodded at her. "I'm guessing you got a good night's sleep last night? Must be nice to have your own bed again!" He nodded again as he started to dig into the food. He'd forgotten how good home cooked meals tasted, he'd been leaving off mediocre camp food the past two months and although it was sufficient, it wasn't nearly as good as his grandmother's cooking. He smiled at her as he picked up a strip of bacon and bit into it happily.

"It was the best feeling, _Nonna_." He explained. "You have no idea."  
"I have no idea?" She retorted. "Nico, you mustn't forget about the year and a half I spent overseas working as a nurse for the soldiers…" She spoke to him sternly, but also with nostalgia. Yes, his grandmother had in fact worked as a nurse overseas in her early years. He wouldn't ever forget that because she honestly brought it up as much as she could. He thought she was really proud of it, which she should be. But that didn't mean she had to bring it up all the time, because it did get annoying sometimes. Not that he'd ever tell her that, of course, but still.

"No, no, I didn't forget. It's just a figure of speech." He smiled at her, showing that he meant no disrespect. She smiled softly back and stopped talking, instead going back to work on more food for herself. It was a quiet life, just the two of them, but he wasn't particularly opposed to it. It was nice, and he really couldn't complain about all the space she did give him. She was old, there was no doubt about that, but that allowed for much more freedom on his part because she was so much more laid back. A lot of people would suspect the opposite, but that wasn't the case, at least not in his situation.

As soon as he had finished his breakfast he ran back up to his room an dug the little slip of paper out from the pocket of the pants he had worn the day before. Admittedly, he'd forgotten to even put the number in his phone, but he was glad he remembered now because he'd hate for his grandmother to have done the laundry causing him to lose the number completely. If that had happened, he'd have to wait for Percy to text or call him, and there was no guarantee that was actually going to happen.

He plugged the number into his phone as a new contact under "Percy :)" (yeah, as corny as that actually is) and saved it. He then immediately went into the "New Message" option and put in the contact name. A quick "Hey Percy! It's Nico, I hope everything is all settled in and good back home?" was all he sent before locking his phone and lying down on his bed waiting. Yes, it was pathetic of him, but it was literally all he could think about right now. He hoped that it wouldn't ever come across as obsession, because it really wasn't even if it seemed that way. He just… _really _liked Percy.

It wasn't five minutes before he got a reply, which almost made Nico jump because he wasn't expecting it that quickly.

"Yeah, just about. You?" Nico read and then typed back quickly.

"Yeah, everything's all good. If you're still busy I can text you later or something…" He hoped it wasn't a bad time.

"No, no, it's fine. What's up?" Nico smiled.

"Nothing, really, just finished breakfast and glad to finally sleep in my own bed."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." Percy wrote back. "You start to think those camp bunks are comfortable, and then you get back home and realize they're crap."

"Definitely." Nico typed, then hesitated. "So… you free any time soon? I mean I'd hate to come before any of your friends from before camp or whatever, but y'know… just sometime soon?" He sent it.

"Dude, don't worry about it, it's fine. I totally get it, I mean who wouldn't want to hang out with me?" Nico got another text from him not two seconds after. "Kidding! Obviously, but seriously, it's fine. Um… As far as I know, I'm free today if you want to do something."

"Seriously?" Nico texted back. "Don't you want to see some of your other friends, first?" He didn't know why he was arguing to see Percy later, honestly. Probably because he was an idiot.

"Ah, they can live. They get plenty of me during school, anyway. Plus it's weird to wake up and not see you across the room." Was that a compliment?

"Yeah, I suppose it is… Alright, today then?"

"Today, then! How's… two-ish sound? I'll text you the details later, Mom's calling me down for food."

"Alright, later!"

And that was that.

"Later" couldn't have come any slower in Nico's opinion, and he spent pretty much his whole day eagerly awaiting for the text with the details from Percy. He couldn't' think of anything else to do the whole day, so other than wait he pretty much just laid in his bed. It would be an exaggeration to say that was literally all he did, but it took up the majority of his time and he couldn't really remember doing anything significant, so he'd settled to just believe that's all he did.

When the text did come he practically attacked his phone as he tried to unlock it. "Times Square in 30?" Was all it said, and he happily replied with a "Sounds great, see you there!"

Honestly, it could have been anywhere at any time and he would have agreed immediately. It wasn't the place or the time, it was Percy. Percy and his absolutel perfectness. It wasn't fair, it really wasn't. But at least Nico had had the pleasure of meeting him, so he couldn't complain about that.

He'd already showered and put on and outfit that he'd _maybe_ spent a little more time on than usual (but nothing too complicated or dressy or anything, obviously). Really he just needed to get a cab, which wouldn't be too hard. He grabbed his wallet and his phone and headed out the door.

"I'm going out for a little while, I'll be back later!" He called out to his grandmother as he left the apartment. It was a lost cause though, she was napping, so he had made sure to leave a note for her as well. He called a cab and luckily got one quickly, and headed off.

He was glad the cab driver wasn't one of the cab drivers who tried making conversation or small talk. He hated that to no end, even if he was in the second best mood possible, the first obviously being able to actually date Percy. He didn't want to talk to a stranger though, especially not a stranger that was twice his age and didn't know him at all. Instead he idly stared at the message from Percy as if it were some kind of godsend and just prayed that he'd actually show up in time. He'd hate to have to keep Percy waiting, provided that Percy showed up on time. But Percy was a good guy, Nico knew he would.

If he were being perfectly honest, Nico would say he was surprised that Percy hadn't caught on to his infatuation with him yet. When it really came down to it, it was pretty obvious. But maybe Percy was just an oblivious person, or maybe he was humoring Nico. Or even worse, what if he had a girlfriend or something and was just simply ignoring it. It was very possible when Nico actually thought about it, and suddenly he got this horrible feeling in his stomach. Not only of anxiety, but also of guilt. Was he hitting on a taken guy? There was no way Percy could be single. And if he was, not for long. Percy was not the kind of guy people let be single, which made Nico come to the realization that he was probably chasing after someone who was already taken. Shit.

No, Nico couldn't think like that. _Shut up._ He told himself. _You always do this and it always backfires. You'll never know unless you try._

He really did always do this to himself. He always overthought things, especially when it came to things like love. Although he hadn't ever really experience love like this before, the general concept of it brought out this whole part of his brain that just never ever stopped thinking about things, and this lead to a lot of self-doubt, nervousness, and just general feelings of anxiety. Admittedly, however, he had never felt guilt as a product of this, so that feeling was totally new.

He knew, though, that he at least had to go through today. He didn't really know what he was thinking when he told himself that he would try and stay away more, though, because as creepy as it sounds he hated the idea of living without Percy, or living with him but only in small doses. It would kill him because he had such strong feelings for the older boy, and just the thought made him shutter a little bit. So he decided he wouldn't think about it. No, he would go to Times Square today and enjoy his time with the brunette and it would be good. Great, even.

It wasn't long before the cab pulled up to Times Square and the driver was paid. Nico kept his eyes peeled for Percy as he stepped out of the car and when he didn't see him, he glanced at the clock on his phone and realized he was a bit early. It might be ten minutes before Percy showed up, and then maybe another ten just to find him, considering how crowded Times Square can get. Which also made him think that maybe they were both here and just hadn't spotted each other yet, which he kind of hoped was the case.

Eventually the two did find each other, but unfortunately there was no big reunion with a singing choir and bright lights. Not that that's what Nico was expecting, of course. They did hug, and although it was friendly and very obviously friendly, Nico loved every second of it. While Nico was basically melting into Percy's body heat, Percy was laughing and sarcastically saying that it had been such a long time and that they should do this more often (which Nico would agree to in a heartbeat) and all that stuff. It made Nico smile, but then again he was pretty sure everything Percy said made him smile.

After their little rendezvous, they discussed how their time home so far had been and how it was nice to sleep in their own rooms and see their parents. Both realized that while Percy only had a mother that was around regularly, Nico only had a father and even though this wasn't the brightest thought it both made them laugh. Both had expressed again that it was definitely strange to not wake up in the same room, and they had gotten a laugh at this too. It was weird how accustomed to things you could get in the span of only two months, and how weird it was to go back to the norm.

They got food and talked for a while, eventually getting their conversation to school and the start of the year in a couple weeks. Percy was going into senior year, Nico becoming a junior. They expressed how they weren't excited for school to start but ready at the same time, if that made any sense. Their conversation didn't last long though, because halfway through Percy telling Nico about his group of friends, Nico got a call.

"Juniper?" He asked irritably.

"Nico! I'm hanging out with Rachel right now, you're coming to meet us."

"I can't. I'm with Percy right now, a little busy."

"Ooh, are you two making out?"

"Juniper! No, of course not." He blushed.

"Well then you aren't too busy to meet us. You can bring him! We're going to this awesome restaurant Rachel knows called Scarlatto. Tell them you're with the Dare party, that's her last name. I expect to see you there, or I will _never_ forgive you." She giggled. "Seriously, you better be here soon!" And with that she hung up, and Nico sighed. He loved the girl, but she was so high maintenance he was surprised he was able to handle her so well.

He turned to Percy with an embarrassed and apologetic look on his face.

"So, uh…" He started, scratching the back of his head. "How do you feel about meeting my friend Juniper?"

**Post Author's Note:** Okay, so I'm well aware that this majorly sucks. Please forgive me, okay? It's not a very interesting chapter, I know, but necessary to kind of move the plot forward. I promise promise promise that the next chapter will be much better and more interesting and just all around a better read. Honestly, this was partly written with major writer's block but I really wanted to get it up because, again I apologize, I haven't updated in far too long and I feel horrible. But by forcing this chapter out of myself (yes, I know that's bad) I've pretty much completely eliminated my writer's block. So I swear, next chapter will be better and more interesting. Maybe I should be thankful I had such a block on such a boring chapter? I don't know, just… please forgive me, I'm really sorry. I really, really am, and I'll be back soon with a much more interesting chapter. Thanks so much guys, I really do love you all. This story has already gotten more attention then I ever expected it to get, and I'm really really appreciative of it. Again, I love you all so much, you're really great. Thanks!


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